Hope remains for civility in health care debate
They’re qualities he demonstrated when he asked Obama a pointed question at a town hall meeting Tuesday in Portsmouth, N.H.
The town hall meetings, not unusual for the August Congressional recesses, according to FGCU public affairs professor Peter Bergerson, have been marked with near riotous conditions this year, all from health care foes. On Wednesday, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., was met with jeers and taunts in State College, Pa.
Many meetings have had so much disruption, discussion of the issues had to be suspended.
Someone painted a swastika on a sign outside the office of Democratic Rep. David Scott of Georgia.
Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs called the spray painting “ridiculous,” saying it’s a sign the national debate over Obama’s health care plan has gotten “completely out of hand.”
No town hall meetings have been held in Lee County, although opponents and supporters of an overhaul have held rallies.
Obama came through the Portsmouth meeting unscathed Tuesday, facing a mostly friendly and, with Hershenson as an example, courteous crowd.
Hershenson’s courtesy and good humor make him no less critical of Obama’s health care plans. Nor is he any less critical of what he considers to be rampant spending of taxpayer money in Washington, D.C., the real cause, he believes, for the rowdy, anger-filled town meetings.
Hershenson, 69, who summers in Maine, was picked randomly by a White House staffer after applying online to attend the meeting and then, there, was selected again, perhaps not so randomly this time, by Obama to ask a question.
