President Obama Online Town Hall Meeting (Instant Access)
In the age of instant everything, now we enter instant responses from the President of the United States. President Obama attempted an “experimental” online town hall meeting this week. This is the president who has already changed the value of the Internet for political campaigns, raising more money online than anyone ever dreamed possible. The Obama administration obviously recognizes the importance of continuing this type of access of people to the President. You can read the entire text of the town hall meeting HERE.
I applaud President Obama for his accessibility and willingness to meet people within the context and culture of the day. This is certainly a presidency that will be very aware and conscious of culture and public opinion. My desire is to see the church do likewise when it comes to understanding and adapting to culture in order to reach people with the Gospel. The caution I would offer the presidency is that instant access will also mean instant opinions from a select group of constituents. A leader can’t help, but be influenced by that constant flow of information. There may be a danger in allowing that instant access to shape public policy. It is one thing to gather information and survey public pulse, but quite another to be subject to the whims of the populace.
Leaders should receive all the information available to them, gather samples of opinions from broad sources, weigh all the options, but then ultimately, they should do the right thing, regardless of the wave of public opinion. The panic reactions of people to economic news over the last six months are an example of why the popular decision may or may not always be the right decision.
We may or may not agree with his policies, but, in my opinion (I have one too), we do not want the presidency being controlled by a mass of anonymous online opinions anymore than I want our church controlled by only those who comment on my Facebook status or reply to my Twitters.
That’s my opinion. What do you think?
