Yes. I may call on you. Then again, I may not. After all, I *AM* the President-Elect. Kiss my ring.
Posted on 11/25/2008 11:13:00 PM PST by Red Steel
When President-elect Barack Obama meets the press Wednesday morning for his third news conference in as many days, it’s anyone’s guess which reporters he’ll call on.
Literally.
Before Tuesday’s press conference, incoming Press Secretary Robert Gibbs assigned numbers to CBS, NBC and ABC, then he had an aide select a number from one to three. And that’s how NBC correspondent Savannah Guthrie came to kick off the Q&A with the president-elect.
Fair? Arbitrary? Haphazard? Perhaps. But the press corps has another word for it: Confusing.
A “transition period hybrid,” is how spokesperson Jen Psaki described the method behind the apparent selection madness, which was all the more baffling since traditional White House protocol – based on strict rules and hierarchy — was followed during Obama’s first post-election presser on Nov. 7.
“We’ve tried to keep as many people happy as possible,” Gibbs said. “I have no doubt there are many who have attended one, two or all three [Obama press conferences] who find this system not much to their liking.”
“Our thing has been to try as much as we could to spread it around,” Gibbs added.
But spreading it around has kept reporters in Chicago’s Hilton Hotel off balance as they try to figure out which media outlets Obama will call on, and why.
Seating, as of Monday, had seemed to play a key role in getting the nod. But on Tuesday, Obama ignored reporters from the Associated Press and New York Times who were seated in the front row and instead looked a few rows back for Andy Shaw, a reporter with Chicago’s ABC affiliate.
Before this week’s series of economy-focused press conferences, Obama had held just one as president-elect. That Nov. 7 event largely followed established White House rules, with AP getting the first question, followed by networks, national and local reporters, and another wire service.
But Monday’s press conference was different. AP was again called on first, but the other five questions were doled out to two wire service and three newspaper reporters from daily publications that weren’t called on previously. And in a break with White House tradition, no networks were called.
Obama had a “game plan” of who to select, an aide told Politico. And indeed, the president-elect seemed stiff and uncertain when calling on some reporters by their first and last names; a reporter with experience covering Obama said it was clear the president-elect didn’t know the people he was calling on.
That was in stark contrast with Tuesday’s news conference, where a much looser Obama joked with reporters and even engaged in a little impromptu banter — mentioning the “floppy hat” worn by Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Nicholas during the campaign, and quipping “we’re going local” before calling on Shaw.
At this point, to the Obama team’s credit, most major news outlets have had their day in the sun.
Reporters from the top four newspapers in circulation — USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times — have each gotten one question. The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Sun-Times, also in the top ten, have been allowed to one question, too.
Among networks, Fox News has been shut out — a glaring omission, and one that perhaps reflects the tension between the Murdoch-owned network and the Obama campaign during the election cycle.
Gibbs said there is “nothing nefarious” in not yet selecting Fox.
Even if the Obama team has been spreading out the questions over the past couple days, the President-elect is continuing his campaign trail practice of not taking too many queries.
For instance, when Shaw asked for a follow-up, Obama said he couldn’t field it because “we’ve got to do a bunch." He then called on the fourth and final reporter of the afternoon, McClatchy’s Steve Thomma.
As before, Obama joked around with Thomma, bringing up a humorous pool report he’d written the day before.
“I understand that as a lifelong White Sox fan, you were placed in the Cubs section,” Obama said to Thomma with mock dismay, referring to seating rules at the press conference that pre-assigned reporters to the north and south sides of the ballroom, emblazoned with logos for the Chicago White Sox or Cubs, without regard to their true loyalties.
“When we make mistakes, we admit them,” Obama deadpanned.
“That’s the change we need, on behalf of White Sox fans,” Thomma responded.
So maybe reporters looking to get called during Wednesday’s 9:45 A.M. press conference may find that baseball jokes in their pool reports are the key to getting the president-elect’s attention.
Otherwise, who knows?
Cute.
Les Kinsolving’s number is 2,345,225.68
This is exactly what you asshats in the media wanted. So get used to it.
He’s way ahead of Tricia Tanaka. Her number is 4815162342.
So, the Fox reporters’ tanking for Obama hasn’t paid off ?
More grovelling needed,
Helen Thomas for the win.
Yes. I may call on you. Then again, I may not. After all, I *AM* the President-Elect. Kiss my ring.
I don't know...I haven't watched Fox for a number of months.
I, especially, abhor "The Beltway Boys."
I give kudos to Britt.
However, he's history...and I don't blame him.
I like Cavuto, too.
Has anyone in history ever had such signage for “The Office of the President-Elect”....???
I can’t recall ever seeing such a thing in previous transitions — seems like a really silly sign but I suppose that simply to stand at a podium would not be self-important enough for the Obamessiah.
Can someone Photoshop the sign to say “The Office of the Obamessiah”
http://obamashrugged.com/?p=225
Sure wish they could sue him out of his non existent office.
It’s pretty obvious why he’s trying so hard to control which reporters get to answer questions. He’s really trying to control which questions are asked.
Soft enough not to be able to take questions from Fox.
Erkel in chief strikes again.
Considering the breathless coverage of his every move, if Chairman Hussein weren’t responsible for such signage, the MSM would do it for him.
We believe Gibbs.
/s/
What’s Barry’s number, 663 (the true number of the beast)?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.