Going online with Obama

[Commentary] Thirty-two years ago this month, President Carter set a new standard for openness and accessibility in the Oval Office by inviting the public to call and ask him questions. The callers weren't screened, and the two-hour session with Walter Cronkite was broadcast live on radio stations across the country. Nine million people phoned the White House for a chance to jawbone with the leader of the free world, and 42 got through. Their wide-ranging questions offered a snapshot of the national mind-set, revealing concerns about such topics as how Carter might stimulate the economy, whether he wanted to hike the gas tax and why his married son was living in the White House. In other words, they didn't throw him softballs, nor did they stick to the policy issues that occupied the Washington press corps. Now, President Obama is updating Carter's experiment for the Internet era. It is a welcome complement to the sessions with reporters on the White House beat, who can be so focused on inside-the-Beltway wrangling that they overlook the real-world issues that matter most to the general public. Today's questions may be as enlightening as the answers.