The Change you can believe in?: Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers
President Obama has promised to change the way the government does business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose soft — though far from planted — questions provided openings to discuss his preferred message of the day.Obama has said, “I think it’s important to engage your critics … because not only will you occasionally change their mind but, more importantly, sometimes they will change your mind,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs recounted to The Post’s Lois Romano in an interview Wednesday.
But while the online question portion of the White House town hall was open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama’s campaign in 2008.
Here are their stories:
1. Sergio Salmeron: Self-description at the White House: “My name is Sergio Salmeron. I want to find out about health care.”
Salmeron became engaged with the Obama campaign early in 2008, writing on his blog at my.barackobama.com, “We need to mobilize towards changing the trend of ‘2 to 1 Latinos favoring Hillary over Barack.’ Let’s make a resolute commitment… Let’s put the facts on the table, ask the questions, until we understand how this all applies to us. Then strategize [sic] to get the word out to Latinos in America, who want change as much as everyone else.”
He was a volunteer canvasser for the campaign, he told The Post, and did voter registration work and translated materials for the campaign, as well. A partner at Global Paradigm Strategies, Salmeron is volunteer “member of the Democratic National Committee” and continues to be active with the Obama campaign’s successor, Organizing for America, which is how he got the White House invite, he said.
“I got a call from this woman who has been working with me for the pledge drive,” he said, referring to the Organizing for America drive on behalf of the president’s budget proposal. “You know, we’re trying to get support out for the president’s agenda.”
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