Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has a Ph.D. in History, suggested that an education group should teach an online course out of the White House designed to aid the president in educating Americans about public policy issues.
“I’ve talked to people at Kaplan and elsewhere about [how] ‘could you teach an online course from the White House?'” Gingrich said during an interview today with the Des Moines Register. “‘Could you say to people I want to outline for you the challenges that I think we’re faced with, I’d like your input, I’d like you to help us get there?'”
Gingrich outlined the idea while suggesting how a president might imitate successful past presidents such as Lincoln and Jefferson, and Reagan. “What you see [in them] is people who thought of leadership as understanding where we have to go, communicating it clearly in a way that the American people said, ‘yes, that’s okay, yes I want you to do that,’ and then actually methodically implementing what that direction would be.”
He added that “the technology is now available to really dramatically expand public participation [in government].”
