Obama takes more questions than Bush

President Obama has gotten off to a busy start, fielding more questions in formal press conferences in his first months in office than the American people saw from his predecessor.

Mr. Obama will hold his third prime-time news conference from the White House on Wednesday, and he has held several while traveling abroad as well, calling on 59 reporters in total.

That’s well ahead of former President George W. Bush’s record as Mr. Obama concludes his first 100 days in office. By this point in his presidency in 2001, Mr. Bush had taken 39 questions in three news conferences.

Former President Bill Clinton held more press conferences, in part because he was dealing with the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, and he also held several extensive joint press conferences with foreign leaders in his first few months as president, something Mr. Obama has not done from the White House.

In Mr. Clinton’s first 100 days as president he fielded hundreds of questions during nearly a dozen press conferences.

Mr. Obama is offering himself up for questions far more than Mr. Bush.

“The fact that he’s met with reporters so often is striking,” said Peter J. Kastor, associate professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis. “He’s clearly someone who seems confident speaking to reporters. The Obama administration has clearly decided that works to his benefit and he can use it as a time to shine. This really is different from what other presidents have done.”

During official press availabilities, Mr. Obama has taken questions from 26 journalists in the United States and called on a total of 33 reporters while traveling to Canada, Europe, Mexico and to Trinidad and Tobago for last week’s Summit of the Americas.

He also has fielded several questions in more impromptu settings.

Reporters from the traditional wire services to less traditional new-media outlets such as Huffington Post have been given the chance to query the president. The decision is made by the White House press team, which hands the president a list of reporters on whom to call.

Mr. Obama doesn’t try to hide the fact that questioners are preselected, though he changes it up every once in a while.

“I’ve got a list of a few people I’m going to call on, and then I will intersperse some folks I’m calling on randomly,” he said while on his European trip earlier this month.

Mr. Bush often had a prepared order of questions to take from the press corps, while Mr. Clinton’s exchanges were more freewheeling with reporters, spontaneously calling on members of the press who shouted at him.

Mr. Obama has fielded queries about the economy, his decision to allow federal funding of embrionic stem-cell research and even his views on steroid use among Major League Baseball players.

Mr. Obama broke a record during the presidential transition period from his election Nov. 4 through Jan. 9, holding 15 news conferences and taking 62 questions. That far surpassed what Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton and former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan did during their transitions.

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