President Obama takes on GOP at Baltimore retreat

VIDEO: President Obama Full Q&A

Obama At House Republican Retreat In Baltimore: FULL VIDEO, TEXT
That's why I say if we're going to frame these debates in ways that allow us to solve them, then we can't start off by figuring out, A, who's to blame; B, how can we make the American people afraid of the other side. And unfortunately, that's how our politics works right now. And that's how a lot of our discussion works. That's how we start off
...
It's all tactics, and it's not solving problems.

President Obama traveled to a House Republican retreat in Baltimore to face tough question from a room filled with Republicans. President Obama engaged with his conservative counterparts for an hour and a half in what was described as "amazing theater" and "compelling political television".

The exercise was so successful that one of Obama's most strident critics, Michelle Malkin commended Obama with qualifications of course.

Transparency and openness, finally: The GOP & Obama Q&A show
It’s our own version of Britain’s Prime Minister’s questions and it’s been happening for nearly an hour live.

Hurry and tune in now on C-SPAN online if you aren’t near a TV.
Yes, Obama has shown some of his finger-wagging tendencies...

But the session has been most compelling — the most transparency and openness we’ve seen since the start of his term...

In response to readers: Yes, we got to see how thin-skinned and peevish he is in a sustained engagement/non-engagement with Republicans.
That’s a good thing, isn’t it?
Best takeaway, lecture-y line from Obama: “We’ve got to be careful about what we say about each other.”

Says the man whose operatives have smeared conservatives and Tea Party activists as racists, terrorists, and Neanderthals non-stop over the last year...

Judging by the title in this Huffington Post round-up one might conjure up this wrestling image

Obama Goes To GOP Lions' Den -- And Mauls The Lions
"Most people thinking about this would have thought 'ooh Obama is going into the lion's den," said Dee Dee Myers, Clinton's former press secretary. "But there was a great opportunity to jujitsu that. On one level it looked brave but on another he was the substitute teacher there, lecturing the audience.

"A lot of us have been waiting for that moment, a little more fight, a little more politics" she added. "He is in a political business and he has to pay attention to not just the substance but the politics."

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