Presidential Non-Answers: A Townhall With Obama

Opinion
Typography

 

On October 14th, I had the privilege of attending a town hall with President Obama sponsored by BET, CMT and MTV. The town hall, entitled, “A conversation with President Obama,” aired live at 4 PM on all three networks. The studio audience was made up of 230 young students from all races, ethnicities and religions. This was not the only town hall Obama has held in the lead up to the November 2nd general elections, in order to enthuse the Democratic base and demystify the fear, uncertainty and doubt about Obama’s decisions the past two years.

President Obama took questions from the audience, which ranged widely from education to cyber-bullying to social security reform. Unfortunately, the scope of questions tended to be exclusively domestic; neglecting the serious questions Obama has to answer for when it comes to his foreign policy. In addition, it seemed as though many of the questions were simply a regurgitation of questions asked every day. And, the questions that were unique were met with standard political jargon. After the event, one questioner was asked if they thought the President answered her question; her response was that after she got over the shock of actually conversing with Obama, she realized that he didn’t really answer her question. And I believe statements like that best describe the MTV event.

One moment that stood out to me was the President’s response to a question regarding race relations by Kishor Nagula. After pointing out the controversy over Arizona’s immigration law, the Islamic cultural center in Manhattan and other issues, Nagula asked the President, “What’s happened?” And, while Obama made a good point that race relations get worse during tough economic times, he ended by saying the “trend line” is looking good. I know a lot of Muslims around the country who don’t feel like the trend line is looking up for them. In fact, the trend line is starting to accelerate in the downward position. And while America isn’t banning Islamic dress like France, many Muslims are attacked physically or verbally every day in this country simply for believing in Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him).

This event can best be described as a missed opportunity for the President and, indirectly, the Democratic Party. Instead of simply repeating old rhetoric, the President should have used this event as a call to action, because if drastic measures are not taken, Democrats will lose many seats in both the House and Senate. And I don’t want that, and neither should you, because as bad as it may be, it will only be worse with Republicans in control.

And while I didn’t have an opportunity to ask the President a question, I did have the privilege of shaking his hand after the show ended. As he was walking towards me, I debated what to say to him. I could have simply exchanged some pleasantries, but this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. So as we shook hands I said to him, “we have to help the Palestinians.” And as he was moving on, he said to me, “I’m working on it.”

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Azam Ikramullah is majoring in Information Systems and Finance at The University of Maryland.

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