The following are comments from a news report by FOX about President Barack Obama's Online town-hall meeting today:

President Obama turned to cyberspace Thursday for an Internet town hall meeting, hoping to deepen support for his broad and expensive assault on economic hard times.

 

Over 92,000 people submitted over 100,000 questions on the White House's Web site to be considered at the town hall meeting -- part of a political strategy to engage Americans directly. 

 

The president already has taken that tactic on the road, spending two days on the West Coast last week at town hall-style meetings and appearing on Jay Leno's late-night talk show. It offered easier questions and a chance to get his message to the widest possible audience.

 

Already, the White House is connecting the old-school press conference with the new-media event. It will be an easy contrast between skeptical reporters and supporter-selected questions.

The online version he is doing is an alternative way to get out the same message, in this case on the budget, targeted toward a different audience, usually younger," said Morley Winograd, a former adviser to ex-Vice President Al Gore who now runs the Institute for Communication Technology Management at the University of Southern California.

"In both cases the questioners are just props -- or, in some cases, foils -- for the star, Obama, to deliver his message. But in the latter case, they get to self-nominate instead of be selected by elites," Winograd said.

In a way, it's part campaign-style politics and part "American Idol," said political strategist Simon Rosenberg.

"The president is going back to the safe confines he was always most comfortable with, in this case a friendly audience where the focus is on the sale rather than the substance," Republican strategist Kevin Madden said.

You folks in the media and those in the Republican Party just don't get it.

President Obama and his administration promised from day one of their campaign for office to "go to the American people".  He's asked us from day one, all to listen, learn and stay informed.  And he's said the way to keep us inform is to get the facts out to us by using the grassroots way - going around Washington and the media.

It's really funny to hear those claiming that by taking mostly unfiltered questions it is easier or "safer" than taking questions from the media?  Unlike the former president who screened the audiences, had pre-selected questions formed; this president is willing to answer anybody's question.  He's not afraid to speak his mind or opinion.

Yes the President is telling Americans 'his' facts and figures, however, he's also listening to the American people and answering them as best he can.

He's not answering the questions that the media thinks the story should be about or what the other Party is interested in -- he's answering the AMERICAN PEOPLE's questions.  The people he works for.

Remember when Ross Perot began using posters and graphs to show Americans what the facts were?  At the time the media and other candidates laughed and made fun of him.  Not long after however, we began seeing posters, grafts and charts being displayed on the floors of Congress and during campaigns.  That still holds true to this day.

Someday in the very near future, even during the upcoming 2010 House and Senate election cycle, I'm sure we'll be seeing other politicians going to the 'people' in town-halls and online --instead of going to the media to get their message or views out. 

The media has lost the trust of the American people.  Instead of reporting a story, they ARE the story these days.

The best comment I've heard to explain why President Obama is spending/investing money and thereby creating future debt for Americans. 

During his townhall/online forum today he gave an example that the philosophy that critics are using to not spend so much money when things are bad -- could be said to parents or students that are investing in college at a time of recession.  I can't quote him exactly but this statement is sort of what he said, "You can't afford to pay for college right now, you need to just go to work and wait it out, then go to college later when money isn't so tight."

Obama points out that the parent or student is looking to their future by INVESTING now.  That's exactly what he's trying to do with investing in education, energy and health care.

If somebody gets a video of this comment please post it.  It's a very good point.

During 6 years of War:  Prognosis: Calmer but very fragile

In Iraq, we've now lost 4,260 U.S. men and women.  Total U.S. wounded medical air transported; both hostile and non-hostile comes to 45,583 service personnel.  Total military deaths this year alone (2009) comes to 39 precious lives.  Total lives lost when combined with other nations military forces is 4578.

During 8 years of War:  Prognosis: Getting Worse instead of better

In Afghanistan, we've now lost 671 Americans.  In 2008 we lost a total of 294 lives.  This year (2009), we already lost 74, almost a third of what we lost last year alone.  Total lives lost when combined with other nations military forces is 1119.  I have no record for those wounded.

We currently have around 170,000 soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan; soon another 17,000 will be added to Afghanistan.  I'm not sure if that includes support forces for the combat ones.

Former Secretary of State Condi Rice appeared on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" last night.  When asked how President Obama was doing she agreed with former president Bush who said, "I love my country a lot more than I love politics...I'm not going to spend my time criticizing him," he said. "He deserves my silence."

Former Vice President Cheney on the other hand, attacked Obama by saying, his policies "raise the risk" of another terror attack in the U.S.

RICE: My view is, we got to do our way. We did our best. We did some things well, some things not so well. Now they get their chance. And I agree with the president; we owe them our loyalty and our silence while they do it. [...] These are quality people. I know them. They love the country and they won't make the same decisions, perhaps, that we did. But I believe they'll do what they think is best for the country.

I especially appreciate her comment, "They love the country.....I believe they'll do what they think is best for the country."

It is so strange to hear a Republican admit that Democrats love their nation too.

I have a warning to the Democrats and liberal media. 

Think back to the year of 2000.  When former president Bill Clinton left office and soon after Hillary Clinton ran for Senator of New York.  The right wing conservative machine couldn't get off the subject of Hillary Clinton.  They just 'knew' that she would run for President in 2004, remember?

They kept the idea of Hillary running for president --sharp in the minds of voters almost every week -- especially on Fox. 

At the time, they felt it was a good strategy because of Bill Clintons's indiscretions and Al Gore's loss, that by pushing Hillary's name they would instead be 'hurting' her chances of winning if she did happen to try and run for president.

What they ended up doing instead, is keeping Hillary in the news, keeping her famous, keeping the question out there, keeping the 'interest' going.  By the time 2004 rolled around Hillary knocked them for a loop by saying 'no', she wouldn't be running.

Yet, even after failing to 'get it right', they continued to push Hillary's name for running in 2008.

By the time 2007 rolled around it was pretty much a 'given' that Hillary would run for President.  She was ready.  Everything that could have have been said or used against her had been used or said.  The right wingers had basically 'made in the shade', sort of speak, for her.

This is my warning to the Democratic Party and the liberal media -- you are doing the same thing for Governor Sarah Palin by constantly pushing her name and her weekly actions or comments to the American people.  Unless you truly want her to run -- you'd best SHUT UP.

Parts of President Obama's press conference held Tuesday night:

We've already seen a jump in refinancing s of mortgages as homeowners take advantage of lower rates. And every American should know that up to 40 percent of all mortgages are now eligible for refinancing. This is the equivalent of another tax cut, and we're also beginning to see signs of increased sales and stabilizing home prices for the first time in a very long time...

That whole philosophy of persistence, by the way, is one that I'm going to be emphasizing again and again in the months and years to come, as long as I am in this office. I'm a big believer in persistence. I think that when it comes to domestic affairs, if we keep on working at it, if we acknowledge that we make mistakes sometimes and that we don't always have the right answer, and we're inheriting very knotty problems, that we can pass health care, we can find better solutions to our energy challenges, we can teach our children more effectively, we can deal with a very real budget crisis that is not fully dealt with in my -- in my budget at this point, but makes progress.

I think when it comes to the banking system, you know, it was just a few days ago or weeks ago where people were certain that Secretary Geithner couldn't deliver a plan. Today, the headlines all look like, well, all right, there's a plan.

And I'm sure there'll be more criticism and we'll have to make more adjustments, but we're moving in the right direction.

When it comes to Iran, you know, we did a video sending a message to the Iranian people and the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And some people said, "Well, they did not immediately say they were eliminating nuclear weapons and stop funding terrorism." Well, we didn't expect that. We expect that we're going to make steady progress on this front.

We haven't immediately eliminated the influence of lobbyists in Washington. We have not immediately eliminated wasteful pork projects. And we're not immediately going to get Middle East peace. We've been in office now a little over 60 days.

What I am confident about is that we're moving in the right direction, and that the decisions we're making are based on, how are we going to get this economy moving? How are we going to put Americans back to work? How are we going to make sure that our people are safe? And how are we going to create not just prosperity here but work with other countries for global peace and prosperity?

And we are going to stay with it as long as I'm in this office, and I think that -- you look back four years from now, I think, hopefully, people will judge that body of work and say, "This is a big ocean liner. It's not a speedboat. It doesn't turn around immediately. But we're in a better -- better place because of the decisions that we made."

Quotes I noted most:

"This budget is inseparable from this recovery because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity,"

"This is a big ocean liner. It's not a speedboat. It doesn't turn around immediately. But we're in a better -- better place because of the decisions that we made."

"we can't ... sacrifice long-term growth"

"Folks are sacrificing left and right,"

The most telling of his comments were when he was asked why he was initially slow to respond to the AIG bonus controversy, Obama quickly answered: "It took us a couple days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak."

This answer could almost be used for every question asked tonight about how critics are responding to President Obama's administration's actions or plans.  Either they speak too soon or without all the facts.

President Obama was able to continue tying almost all of today's issues into just two areas.  The economy and his budget.  When asked about the homeless children for example, he talked about fixing the economy and getting the parents jobs back, he ended up talking about the homeless veterans and how his plans will hopefully prevent that from happening.

Basically what I got out of Obama's press conference is, do you just want to borrow money to pay the bills right now or do you want to borrow money and invest it in all the things that need fixing (health care, energy and education) so that we never have to borrow money again?

It's kind of like a person getting the credit card over extended, borrowing money from mom and dad to pay the past due monthly statements, then going out the next day and buying more stuff on the same credit card.  A never ending cycle.  Washington has been through this wash cycle before.  Put a patch on it -- pass the worry onto the next generation.

Obama wants to STOP THAT CYCLE.

Political talk shows are reporting that President Barack Obama's deficit will end up being four times that of former President George W. Bush's.