Another small but symbolic change:
Quote:
President Obama heads into the belly of the beast today, leaving Washington for a depressed city in Northern Indiana with the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
Obama's first press conference as president is tonight at 8 p.m. ET, but the town-hall meeting in an Elkhart high school gymnasium at noon may be an even better gauge of how his stimulus package is playing with ordinary Americans. He'll take questions from local residents who lined up for hours Saturday morning to get tickets....
....In a dramatic contrast to former President Bush's town-hall meetings -- which were held almost exclusively in party strongholds, with tickets distributed primarily to supporters -- it was first-come, first-served in Elkhart on Saturday. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained on Friday: "I've watched the President do town halls from 2004 through 2008, and the audience has never been hand-picked, and neither have the questions. And we're not going to start any of that on Monday."
Meet Elkhart, Ind. - White House Watch - Dan Froomkin's Blog on washingtonpost.com
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A president who is not afraid to face the public and take tough questions....how refreshing!