The White House under Zero has set up questions all pre approved by the administration.
BJ Clinton did the same thing; if he didn’t the reporters would all ask about his girlfriends (during his first term) and Monica (during his second). They orchestrated everything, and with Obama it has been fine-tuned; a teleprompter can’t keep up with random questions. He would actually stop speaking when the teleprompter malfunctioned - the epitome of an empty token.