C-SPAN likes idea of regular Obama-lawmaker exchanges

C-SPAN said it likes the idea of regular, televised exchanges between lawmakers and the president like the one President Barack Obama had with House Republicans on Friday.

The nonpartisan political network signaled it might encourage Obama to have more, regular televised question-and-answer sessions with members of Congress.

"We’ve televised British Question time for 15 years, so we like the idea of regular interface between the president and Congress," the network said in a statement. "Here, of course, there are constitutional questions involved."

"So after watching today’s session we’re all giving some thought about what we could suggest to whom," the network added.

Republicans said they were generally satisfied with the televised Q&A with the president, which included some testy exchanges. For his part, Obama joked that he was having a good time fielding the questions with their conservative bent. The session was opened up to reporters at the request of the White House.

Obama said during his State of the Union address on Wednesday that he hoped to at least meet with the members of Republican leadership in the House and Senate. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) also called on House Democratic leaders to hold question-and-answer sessions with the GOP similar to today's with Obama.

C-SPAN took a rare position late last year when it wrote congressional leaders, urging them to open up healthcare negotiations to television cameras, as Obama had called for during the campaign.

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