http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/09/...eak-from-bush/
"White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained on Friday: 'I?ve watched the President do town halls from 2004 through 2008, and the audience has never been hand-picked, and neither have the questions. And we?re not going to start any of that on Monday.'?
Nope they're gonna start Tuesday after he fucked up without his teleprompter once again.
Obama's press secretary and Obama did make a big deal of breaking away from Bush style townhalls. Chris Matthews and the media did too -- for those who actually follow politics that was the Caterpiller job saving news cycle. People mentioned this break from Bush style townhalls often that day (it was some of the talking points of the day), so the Obama sheep shouldn't act like people are knit picking poor Obama on this subject. The Obama administration began the comparison not conservatives or Republicans.