Obama's Contentious Townhalls and Doesn't Get Them

Roger Simon thinks that is a bad thing for the President.

What a terrible time to draw a ruly crowd. Barack Obama needed an angry mob at his town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., this week.

He needed to show strength, resolve and fortitude in the face of confrontation, anger and vitriol.

Instead, Obama got a tea party. His health care town hall was filled with polite people who apparently felt that a president of the United States deserves a certain amount of respect.

What a disaster. Everybody was expecting what is happening at the town hall meetings being held by members of Congress this summer: yelling, screaming, the waving of arms and the gnashing of teeth.

The President heads to Colorado and he may get a bit more of a raucus welcome. We will see. I think he won't get as much of a contentious reception as some lawmakers are getting. In part I think it is a deference to the Office of the President, but it might also be an issue of Americans understanding that despite his moniker being attached to the plan, but realize that Obama has been something of hands off on the development of the plan thus far.