"Mr President, in your first 100 days, what has most surprised you, what has most troubled you, what has most enchanted you about the presidency?"
-Jeff Zeleny, New York Times
President Obama: "Enchanted.....enchanted.......can you use it in a sentence, please? Enchanted........E-N-C-H-A-N-T-E-D."
So much for this softball game masquerading as a news conference. So much for the credibility of the New York Times ("All the news that's fit to print") With all the problems going on, this is the best the White House Press Corps can do? No follow ups on why he won't consider closing the Mexican border when there is a Swine Flu epidemic going on down there? (H1N1 flu, sorry) No follow-ups on whether there could ever be a situation under which he would authorize water boarding? How about this?
"Mr President, how can you insist that we could have been successful in getting information without water boarding?"
And can you believe not one reporter had the temerity to ask him about that Air Force One fiasco this week over New York City? Do you think maybe they would have hammered George Bush about it if he had been president?
If this isn't irrefutable evidence of the death of the news media, I don't know what will convince you folks. Helen Thomas was there in the front row. (She probably hadn't moved since the last press conference.) Couldn't she have asked why we are still killing Iraqis? They didn't even call on her. This is the woman who takes the side of Hamas even though she has no idea what's in their charter-stuff about never negotiating with Israel, killing the Jews and establishing an Islamic state of Palestine. They would have had a better press conference if Perez Hilton were there firing away. Isn't it great to watch our national news media having a love affair with the president? Soon they will be referring to Obama as "The Dear Leader".
Enchanting indeed.
Gary, you are nitpicking again. What question hasn't already been asked several times (like the flight over NY) and answered. What more is there to say? Why are we still killing Iraqis? Bush started that and it can't be finished in a few months, as everyone knows. You keep forgetting who got us into the mess we're in, like the eight years of Bush didn't exist. Maybe you can accuse him of having caused the swineflu. I am sure he had something to do with it. Haha.
ReplyDeleteMy dear Ingrid,
ReplyDeleteAs for the NYC flyover, Robert Gibbs was asked about it and had no answer. Janet Napolitano was asked and had no answer. I think it would have been appropriate to ask the president about it on a nationally-televised press conference 2 days after it happened. They didn't want to embarrass him.
As for the Helen Thomas comment, that was a spoof of Helen Thomas because for 5-6 years, she always asked that question when Bush was president. It was not a criticism of Obama that we are still in Iraq (and killing bad guys- of many nationalities)
As for the swine flu, many of us are indeed joking that Bush will be accused of causing the swine flu. Yet, Obama led off stating that he "would do whatever it takes to protect us from the swine flu"-but not close off the border, which seems sensible but nor politically acceptable.
The whole point of the article, Ingrid, was to illustrate how in the tank our news media is for Obama.