Posted on 05/28/2010 3:49:57 PM PDT by seanmerc
WASHINGTON -- At last! President Barack Obama held a full-scale White House news conference Thursday, his first since July 22.
His record on presidential news conferences has been abysmal. True, he held a forgettable news conference on Feb. 9, the day the government was shut down because of blizzards.
Very clever.
He is considered a great communicator. So what’s the deal? He is surely well-primed on the issues and headlines of the day. Speeches and well-placed interviews won’t cut it. He should be quizzed, as he was Thursday by reporters trying to get to the bottom of the Obama administration’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
He agreed to hold the news conference because of mounting criticism of his personal leadership in the oil spill disaster. He apparently concluded that a news conference, complete with sharp questions, was the only way he could attempt to convey his belief that his administration was doing all it could to cope with the spill.
Along the way, he had to defend his actions and those of his subordinates. That’s the kind of accountability that only a news conference can bring out. Remember Harry Truman’s famous dictum: “The buck stops here.”
Presidential news conferences are a two-way street; the president can learn what is on the mind of the news media and the readers and viewers can see and hear how the president handles tough questions coming from all directions.
In recent months, there have been rightful complaints that the press has given Obama a pass, either because reporters find him likeable or are giving him a break because he’s new to the job or because he inherited an unprecedented legacy from President George W. Bush, who strapped us with the biggest tax cut for the richest people, a humongous federal debt, a recession, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus a laissez faire attitude toward big business with no restraints.
All of which led to the financial crash, Wall Street bailouts and the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill that has no end in sight.
But that doesn’t let the president off the hook. He wanted the job -- called the loneliest in the world -- and leadership calls for him to be questioned early and often on where he wants to take the country. Only he can provide that information.
The Obama White House has designed a phony news conference technique, usually when a foreign visitor is at the White House. The administration will roll out a big announcement about a joint press conference with the president and the visitor. Once everyone is assembled, Obama will then announce “one question from each side,’’ meaning the American press gets to ask a question and the foreign press from the visitor’s home country gets to ask a question.
This is not a news conference. But White House officials point to this stagecraft when asked why the president hasn’t had a news conference, meaning, a full-fledged, open exchange with reporters.
All presidents should understand that they have no right to avoid the questions that the nation is asking. The press conference on Thursday showed the structural discipline that is imposed when reporters can demand answers from the elected leader of the country.
Yoo-hoo, Helen Thomas ping list members! Just in time for Memorial Day...
I nearly fell out of my chair when she asked “Why are we in Afghanistan.” Perhaps she hasn’t noticed something missing in the New York skyline.
Hard to believe she’s stupider than she is ugly!
Here’s a good reason to take a shower. :)
Way too little; way too late. Sorry Helen, your boys TOAST with We The People for hundreds of treasonous reasons.
Considering what comes out of her mouth, that’s an appropriate photoshop classic.
LOL!!
Fixed.
Why is this woman still living?
Her diseased brain has shriveled to the size of a raisin. What a loser.
The Lord is gracious, merciful and compassionate; slow to anger, quick to forgive.
Raisins everywhere are insulted by that comparison.
She should paint her nails.
*EMERGENCY ANTITOXIN*
That ain’t all she should do.
I came, I saw, I died
anyways, you improved the picture
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