Did you ever watch an interview during which an answer by the interviewee cried out for an obvious follow-up question, only to be frustrated by the failure of the interviewer to ask it? Of course, when the interviewer is a thinly disguised cheerleader for the interviewee, we can't expect obvious follow-up questions to be asked, as they could tend to unmask the skillful obfuscation in the initial answer.
Two recent failures to ask obvious follow-up questions of the president continue to bother me:
1. The president, having been asked (as have many members of Congress) whether he and his family would opt for the government/public health insurance plan for their health insurance should that option be a part of any health care reform, answered something like this: Well. I'm the president of the United States, and I am followed by a doctor everywhere I go, etc, etc.
Follow-Up: I understand that, Mr. president, but someday you will no longer be president, so will you, today, pledge that the day you leave the White House you will enroll your family and yourself in any government/public option for health insurance that you and Congress are telling us will be so good for us? Please answer yes or no.
2. We've all heard the president explain that one of the ways he is going to help pay the astronomical costs associated with his health care reform is by cutting $250 Billion in "waste, fraud, and abuse" from medicare and medicaid.
Follow-Up: Exactly when did we discover that there was $250 Billion in "waste, fraud and abuse" in those programs; where did that figure come from, and why, if there is so much "waste, fraud, and abuse," are we not at this very moment doing everything possible to eliminate it?
