Before the election, I received several fund raising e-mails promising a chance to have dinner with the president. Like I imagine what I would do with my lottery winnings should I ever hit the "Big One", I began thinking about what I would ask him if I ever got the opportunity. How woould I approach the conversation? It has become a thought exercise for the last six months that changes with every new revelation about drone strikes and his willingness to chain the consumer pricing index.
I would like to know what other people would ask. What is the most important thing for you to spend your once in a lifetime opportunity? Remember, if this were an opprtunity, like the dinner offer, based in reality, there would be no magic truth serum and no way to make him answer. What is it that you want to tell him or want him to tell you? How would you do it and why would you do it?
Below the fold is my approach, at least for today. It will probably be different by tomorrow.
First, it matters where and how long the conversation will be scheduled for. I imagine the setting like he and the policeman from (I think) Massachussetts in the garden at a table having a beer and the conversation is for one hour.
I would try to be congenial and engage in polite conversation for about the first ten minutes so I would not be rude or pushy. I would love to hear about his journey to where he is now and the immense pressure he must be under. But I would want to keep that short because time is ticking and I can read about that in his memoirs.
The real question I want to ask is what he sees as the function of government. What is its purpose? I want to know if it is to:
A.) Simply provide an economic race track that has no say in the rules of the race or no complicity in the outcome?
or
B.) Not only provide the race track but establish rules of fairness so that everyone has an opprtunity to have a successful, safe experience regardless of whether the win first place or not.
This is a question that could take well over the remaining time left. I really want to know how he sees his role and government's in general and if he says he believes in option B, I want to know why in the hell his policies do not reflect that belief.
P.S. I purposely left off option C which is the race track owner has a vested interest in the winners of the race and does everything in their power to make sure it finishes the way they want it because I know no one would answer that question truthfully. It does not mean I do not think that actually happens.