# What would you have me ask Senator Obama? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2008, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539 "2008-09-14T06:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/21 "2008-09-14T15:52:23Z")
Elaborate on what is and what isn’t “fair” in America. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/22 "2008-09-14T16:26:04Z")
Based on post #9, “Can you tell I haven’t changed my underwear lately?” ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/23 "2008-09-14T16:31:25Z")
Obviously you can’t miss the opportunity to ask: “Boxers or briefs?” ---
**Author:** ![Punintentional](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de0a6/32.png) [@Punintentional](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punintentional)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/24 "2008-09-14T17:35:48Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > For God’s sake, don’t waste a question grinding the axe for single-minded gun nuts. There are far more important problems in the world. Which is what the OP was asking, and what you didn’t provide. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/25 "2008-09-14T17:59:56Z")
Since you asked … As president, would Senator Obama’s administration: Support legislation to remove FEMA from DHS and to take steps to elevate the stature of FEMA in your administration—up to and including creation of a cabinet post for the FEMA Director? Establish a Presidential Commission charged with evaluating future potential risk related to natural hazards and begin to identify the long-term policy adjustments (through the year 2050)? Improve water resource and water managment policies and programs, beginning with rectifying the identifiable lack of coordination among the nation’s water resources programs (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and others)? Reform the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and implement a Catastrophic Disaster Insurance program rather than the proposed poorly crafted policy directed at adding wind coverage to the NFIP? Invest in the science and data needed to manage our water resources and hazards effectively, starting with expansion of the nation’s stream gaging network and including research on regional impacts? Implement a strong policy that encourages sustainable actions or that eliminates using infrastructure as an enticement to lead people to build or live in areas vulnerable to natural disasters? Yes, I have an agenda. 😛 Can you tell? ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/26 "2008-09-14T19:12:19Z")
How can NCLB be fixed or redone without just throwing money at it? How will _administrators_ be held accountable? Why are they considered to have all the education they need as soon as they receive their license? ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/27 "2008-09-15T05:04:42Z")
Will Obama, if elected president, eliminate no-bid contracts on federal projects? Will he institute rules forcing government contractors to engage in a bidding process, a part of which includes providing demonstration of actual ability to perform the work contracted by the contractor (rather than just receiving the contract, then passing the actual work on to cheap subcontractors and pocketing the overspent monies)? If he’ll do that, then I’ll be sold on him. And we’ll have taken a real step towards solving some of our budget crisis. If not, we’re boned, and I won’t see any real reason to vote for him. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/28 "2008-09-15T05:06:51Z")
Ask him why politicians can never answer a question with a straight answer. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/29 "2008-09-15T05:11:08Z")
Ask him what he would do if he was stuck on a small island and needed to get to safety. He sees two caves in front of him, with a person in front of each. He knows that one always tells the truth, and one always lies, but he can’t tell which person is which. Both people know which way leads to safety and which one to certain death. He gets one question to ask one of them in order to figure out how to get off the island alive. What is that question? If he can’t figure that out quickly, then he’s not smart enough to be president IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/30 "2008-09-15T05:41:15Z")
Ha, ask him if he’s heard the song [“Waking Up”](http://www.myspace.com/waking_up_after_the_sleep)! Shit, a girl can dream, right? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/31 "2008-09-15T06:00:43Z")
Guns? A chance to ask a man who matters any question you like, and several people here - _here_ - choose to ask a question about guns, for Pete’s sake? Talk about parochial trivia. Can that really be _the_ most significant issue in your lives? There is no hope. > [@Autolycus](#): > > Ask him what he would do if he was stuck on a small island and needed to get to safety. He sees two caves in front of him, with a person in front of each. He knows that one always tells the truth, and one always lies, but he can’t tell which person is which. Both people know which way leads to safety and which one to certain death. He gets one question to ask one of them in order to figure out how to get off the island alive. What is that question? > > If he can’t figure that out quickly, then he’s not smart enough to be president IMO. Which Presidents (say, since WWII) could have answered that to your satisfaction, and how do you know? FWIW I’d ask him specifically how he intended to lead the US and therefore the world into a low-carbon future. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/32 "2008-09-15T06:03:44Z")
Just one question? Ask him, “What is your administration going to do to promote local self-reliance?” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/33 "2008-09-15T06:14:44Z")
> [@Punintentional](#): > > Which is what the OP was asking, and what you didn’t provide. Fair enough. I’d ask him if, when and to what extent he would end warrentless wiretapping. A question about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell would be good too. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/34 "2008-09-15T06:19:04Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Which Presidents (say, since WWII) could have answered that to your satisfaction, and how do you know? Well I was being partially tongue-in-cheek, and, as for your question, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/35 "2008-09-15T06:31:31Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Guns? A chance to ask a man who matters any question you like, and several people here - _here_ - choose to ask a question about guns, for Pete’s sake? Talk about parochial trivia. Can that really be _the_ most significant issue in your lives? There is no hope. Wow. You sure have an elitist attitude, not to mention a lack of understanding of the things that are important to a large segment of society. People keep saying that “gun control cost Al Gore the presidency” and that “the Dems dropped the issue of gun control because it was costing them the House and Senate.” If these things are indeed true, how on earth could it possibly be an insignificant issue to ask a presidential candidate about. In any case - when it comes to the more prominent issues, like energy policy, taxes, healthcare - PEOPLE ARE ALREADY GOING TO BE ASKING HIM ABOUT THAT, as I have already said, which went unheeded like the majority of what I post seems to. I would like an honest, respectful dialog with Obama about the second amendment. I’d like to hear it straight from _him_ what his positions are on the AWB, and on concealed carry. Why? Because it has a chance of gaining him a lot of votes, that’s why. Like I already said, if he can assure the left-leaning libertarian shooter crowd that he’s not going to ban a rifle with a bayonet lug, then he might get their votes instead of having them go to Bob Barr. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/36 "2008-09-15T06:34:28Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Well I was being partially tongue-in-cheek, and, as for your question, I don’t know. Obama is probably the right age to have watched Labyrinth. You’d be testing his memory, not his intellect. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539/37 "2008-09-15T06:45:23Z")
Sadly any practised politician can dodge one question with no follow-up. Presumably there’s a lot of information about his policies on his website? As a European who’s seen the results of Bush in action, I’d ask him “How can I help you get elected?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-have-me-ask-senator-obama/463539.md?page=1)