Obama holds court

I've read that in traditional Arab culture that the local sheikh of a local area would hold court from time to time where local people would come and ask for certain favors. The sheikh would listen to their pleas and dispense gifts and largesse to those who he deemed sufficiently worthy or needy. I thought about that when I read some of the questions submitted to Obama at today's online town hall.

A sampling:

"What will you and your administration do to help make college more affordable for every American?"

"Teachers' salaries are being capped at astonishingly low points around the country. Teachers love what they do but cannot live anymore on these salaries. What are you doing to better the lives of teacher's and the lives of those they touch?!"

"For students graduating from college and graduate school, many of us have obscene amounts of debt. Do you have any plans to help alleviate some of that debt, given the current state of the job market?"

"President Obama: What benefits from the stimulus plan are there to those of us who are paying our mortgages, but living paycheck to paycheck?"

JFK must be rolling in his grave. Thankfully not everyone has lost their mind:

"Dear Mr. President: With the Swedish government deciding this week that SAAB is not a viable entity to salvage, as fellow citizens, how can we justify propping up our auto industry that has for so long refused to evolve? Bob in Houston"

"I pay my bills and taxes on time and always have. Why am I now paying for the poor fiscal decisions of my neighbor who signed a mortgage that he could never afford or my friend who defaults on credit card debt? What happened to consequences?"

Indeed.

Update: Actually, this is a much simpler and perhaps more apt analogy:

Santa readies himself for another town hall meeting