Thomma: Does Obama have what it takes

The 2009-2010 Flagler College Forum on Government and Public Policy reported to the St. Augustine local news desk that McClatchy Newspapers Senior White House Correspondent Steven Thomma, will be their next speaker.

Thomma will speak February 4th, at 7:00 p.m., in the Flagler College Auditorium. His topic will be “Barack Obama: Does he have what it takes to be a great President?”

At McClatchy, Thomma covers the White House.

In 1987, he joined what was then the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau as a regional reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and became the bureau’s National Political Correspondent in 1994.

Thomma was assigned to cover the White House for the first time in 1997 and was named Chief Political Correspondent in 2001. He assumed his current White House duties in November 2008.

Thomma received the Aldo Beckman Award for distinguished White House coverage for his campaign work in 2000 and the National Press Club’s award for best regional reporting in 1994.

Before heading to Washington, he worked for the Pioneer Press in Minnesota, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette in Indiana and City News Bureau in Chicago.

Other speakers for the season include:
• March 23 – Jim Toedtman, Editor, AARP Bulletin
• April 6 – Bill Raspberry, Former Columnist, The Washington Post

All forums take place in the Flagler College Auditorium, 14 Granada St., at 7:00 p.m. Forums are free and open to the public, but seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Sign language interpreters are provided.

Photo credit: © 2010 Historic City News contributed photograph