Public and press must askpriorities of candidates
The reporters who parachuted into our city are gone, their stories filed and the television satellite trucks have moved from their posts on College Avenue, behind the Catlett Music Center. Now, it's up to the American people and the press to continue the dialogue started Monday morning on the University of Oklahoma campus.
Those 17 men and women who filled the Catlett stage -- six Republicans, six Democrats, two Independents and three unknowns -- have said their piece. Their joint statement is part of the record. They want those words to serve as a catalyst for a unified national government, one where leaders put the country's interest ahead of their parties.
It can't happen without the press asking those questions and demanding answers of candidates. The scripted sound bites and restricted access the candidates now provide?don't lend themselves to the kind of spirited give and take suggested by the forum's participants.
Many of the assembled leaders served in Congress with OU President David Boren. They wore party hats then but now see that the process has become paralyzing. A bipartisan approach worked best, they say.
"We are here today because we are committed to a renewal of that kind of bipartisanship," an emphatic Boren said. His co-host, Sam Nunn, echoed his former Senate colleague's remarks. "We wouldn't be here if we didn't think the nation faces serious problems," he said.
One by one, the panelists made their points and suggested strategy to save the democracy.
"Seventeen people cannot bring about change," said David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency. "It's going to take the entire American people."
Best lines from OU forum: Former Texas Gov. Mark White, playing on Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel's football remarks, claimed Baylor University as his home school. "Baylor doesn't come to Oklahoma looking for linebackers. We come to Oklahoma looking for mercy."
No comments:
Post a Comment