No Detail Too Small for (Health) Summit Optics

[Emit]

No detail too small for summit optics

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

By Glenn Thrush, Politico

The GOP's first demand for Thursday's health care summit was simple.

No podium.

They wanted the six-hour talks to take place around a table with House and Senate members sitting at the same height as President Barack Obama, according to a senior Senate GOP aide.

"We don't want any more of that Professor Obama lecturing to us stuff," said one staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another aide circulated pictures of Obama speaking at various events using his favorite platform, an elevated lectern perched above an audience of upraised, adoring faces.

Republicans got their wish. "Participants will be seated at tables in a hollow square setup. They'll be identified with name cards," reads the White House summit schedule.

The issue might seem petty, but it illuminates just how seriously Hill Republicans regard every detail of the high-stakes meeting -- which comes weeks after Obama embarrassed the House GOP Conference during a one-sided question-and-answer session at the party's annual retreat in Baltimore.

~snip~

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10055/1038065-473.stm#ixzz0gVl7lc6e

Also here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33404.html

[ChicagoSuz219]

1. None of that will matter...

...the President and Vice-President will still command everyone's attention, just by their presence... :-)

[Sherman A1]

2. How about that Public Option detail?

They can worry about seating arrangements, but what about the people they supposedly serve?:banghead: