Preparing for Snow

Tony Snow, the new White House press secretary, is expected to hold his first full-fledged press briefing next Monday.

How he responds to the first questions put to him should be a pretty good indicator of whether President Bush is committed to greater transparency in the remaining years of his presidency -- or whether Snow is just a new face for the same old stone wall.

So the questions on Monday would ideally be tough, important ones that on the one hand put Snow to the test, but on the other hand give him a fair chance to show that he's serious about explaining White House actions more forthrightly than his predecessor.

And that's where you readers come in. What questions would you like to see the press corps ask Snow on Monday? E-mail me with your suggestions -- and please include your full, real name and hometown . I'll publish the results on Friday.

Here's the thing, though. I'm not so much interested in smart-aleck, gotcha questions. What I'm looking for is questions to which the average American would say: "Yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that."

Those sorts of questions makes it particularly hard for anyone to argue that the press corps has any agenda other than the public's right to know.

And if Snow doesn't answer them, he looks like an obstructionist, pure and simple.

The questions can have some edge -- after all, most Americans now disapproves of the job Bush is doing -- but the goal here is not to get Snow to take part in a debate (he's a fine debater, we know that already). It's to see if he's there to answer questions.

Here are two sample questions:

* Why did Porter Goss resign as CIA director? Is the public entitled to know the real story, on the record?

* Surely you're concerned about all the signs that the White House has lost its credibility with the American people. For instance, more than half of Americans say they don't find the president honest or trustworthy. How does the president think that happened, and what can he do about it?

The Washington Post editorial board had some thoughts on this topic yesterday: "[H]ere's our challenge to -- and advice for -- the incoming press secretary, Tony Snow: Rather than a steady drip, drip, drip of Abramoff news, get it all out, quickly and with enough details to make clear what, exactly, transpired between the corrupt lobbyist and the president's aides."