Public Political Accountability Measure

In the British Parliamentary System they have a very interesting way of sort of "calling out" their leaders on political mistakes and actions that are not generally agreed upon by either of the two and/or the general population. Certain members of parliament are permitted to ask the Prime Minister to explain himself/herself about controversial issues and the Prime Minister has a legal obligation to answer the questions in a televised inquiry. This practice is aptly named Question Time.

John McCain stated earlier that he would like to see something like this happen--but I'm pretty sure that he was still under the impression that he wasn't going to win at the time he made this statement.* Most of us know that the President of the United States holds press conferences in which only pre-approved questions are asked and answered. If that wasn't enough of a comfortable set up for the president...an even further a comfort is the fact that if a journalist has the "unmitigated gall" to ask an original question that journalist will likely not be asked back to the Whitehouse for future press conferences. Is it too much to ask for our leader to be able to think on his/her feet?

Can you imagine what it would be like to have our current leader stand public trial for recent issues? Granted, it wouldn't resolve past problems but perhaps it would make them think just a little bit harder before they make important decisions. Also, the public might be pacified if they are shown things from the President's point of view. Plus, it would be just plain fun to watch and it would be a good way to get people more involved in the political process. Of course, we'd always have those leaders who are incredibly skilled in charmingly dodging questions...Ronald Reagan was the master of this particular skill. But every now and then we might get a leader who is adept at addressing whatever may come their way...PM Tony Blair comes to mind here.

British Question Time is often quite engaging and interesting. Take a look at a traditional British Question Time and decide for yourself whether or not we should push for such an initiative in this country (This one is beautiful! It is rather long but be sure to watch it until the very end...):

David Cameron v. Gordon Brown

David Cameron (Conservative Party) is the current leader of the opposing party of the current U.K. Prime Minister; Gordon Brown (Labour Party) is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

* http://www.slate.com/id/2191691/