Maybe Wilson is On to Something

Of course the most memorable part of Obama's speech last night was Rep. Joe Wilson shouting out, "You Lie!" in the midst of it. As expected, this was called "outrageous," "unheard of, " "outside the boundaries of civility," and the list goes on. Wilson apologized, saying his emotions got the better part of him.

But you know, maybe he's onto something here. You ever watch the Prime Minister questions that takes place in Britain? Occasionally I've come across this on C-SPAN. I believe it takes place on a weekly basis, where the House of Commons gets to directly ask questions of the Prime Minister, and anything goes. There is nothing scripted here, so the Prime Minister has to be ready for anything, and it's not always pleasant. Lots of grumbling goes on during the responses he gives. Yet, the country goes on. I've never heard of House of Commons representative coming to blows, so they must have mastered the art of how to appear uncivil but asking questions they feel need to be asked.

We often complain about so-called Presidential press conferences and how scripted they are. Or, how the President doesn't really have to answer to anyone and avoids any kind of direct question that isn't fed to him in advance (this goes for any President).

So, what if we adopted the British model? Have a time each week where the Congress could ask the President anything they want and have him respond on the spot? For Bush, this would have been a nightmare. For Obama, he'd need an IMAX size teleprompter to be ready for all the possible questions.