President Barack Obama wants us all to know it’s his house. The White House. Did you watch the press conference? I did. Obama smacked down a couple of reporters during the presser and I applaud him. Some of the press is, predictably, a bit perterbed. Personally, I do NOT care if the dude smokes cigarettes. It doesn’t affect his judgment and it’s legal. How boring. But, I’m getting off track.
Here’s the video:
Here’s some of what was swirling after the press conference…
There was a bit of a kerfuffle because Obama called on Nico Pitney. If you’re interested in petty new media v. ole media beefs and tiffs, go ahead and bone up here.
Over at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum disagreed with a piece Walter Shapiro wrote for Politics Daily in a piece called Obama and the Press. Shapiro thinks that Obama got testy with a reporter when pressed on specifics about repercussions for Iran because he knew that he was wrong. Drum doesn’t think so. Drum thinks that Obama’s just more willing to call reporters out for being poorly briefed or writing what he considers to be frivolous questions, like the ones about his smoking habit.
“On camera, the rules are supposed to be same: the president is expected to pretend that every reporter is serious and well-briefed and every question is smart and penetrating. But Obama doesn’t always like to play by those rules. He’s occasionally willing to pull back the curtain on the media’s inanity and to call a dumb question a dumb question. Unsurprisingly, reporters don’t like this much.” link
David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo wrote that Obama had a pretty major ‘tude. Michael Crowley at the New Republic agrees.
If you’re looking for a run-down of Obama’s wildly ballyhooed “tone change” toward Iran, look no further than this piece at The Swamp.
Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard thinks that Obama’s statement was good, but that his responses to the reporters on Iran were not good. He thinks that Obama is missing an opportunity to positively shape the situation over there.
Michelle Cottle at the New Republic agrees with me and does not think trying to catch the president smoking a square is a good use of resources. The Swamp apparently does not share our sensibilities on the topic. Making the distinction between being an occasional smoker and a constant smoker was headline worthy to somebody. Ugh.
Mike Madden of Salon thinks that Obama was testy too, but he mostly agrees with Obama’s stance on Iran. He also cannot resist a final jab at the president for sneaking an occasional drag or seven of a cigarette.
