Political theater column
The White House press corps, filibustered into silence during President Barack Obama’s first press conference, came alive on Tuesday night, asking tough questions about the economy and the skyrocketing federal deficit and demanding answers in repeated follow-up questions.
For his part, Mr. Obama, who delivered a nearly nine-minute answer to the first question in his previous prime-time Q-and-A session, kept his answers short and to the point, although the Drudge Report Web site blared a big headline minutes after he concluded - “BEING BORING.”
Still, the president mixed it up, skipping The Washington Post, The New York Times and USA Today to call on reporters from Stars and Stripes to Univision to Ebony magazine, which brought questions on the war in Afghanistan, the Mexican drug cartels and the homeless - all subjects hitherto untouched.
He even skipped the usual podium-side teleprompter screens he used last time, instead opting for one large TV box in the back of the East Room, set up right under the TV cameras so it looked as if the president were peering deep into the eyes of the home viewer.
After his five-minute opening statement - filled with a new optimism that replaced his recent doom and gloom about the economy - reporters laid in with a new pessimism, or at least a healthy skepticism.
Right out of the chute, Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press asked: “Why do you think the public should sign on for another new, sweeping authority for the government to take over companies?”
The question prompted the first of many wonkish answers, which eventually put veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas into what appeared to be a gentle slumber. Mr. Obama spoke of the FDIC, like “IndyMac,” renegotiating contracts, getting rid of bad assets, strengthening capital requirements, and reselling it all in the private marketplace.
Miss Loven was unsatisfied. “But why should the public trust the government to handle that authority well?” she said, asking the first of many follow-up questions during the briefing. Chuck Todd of NBC also asked a follow-up on just why the president has not asked the American people to sacrifice, which brought the answer of the night.
“Well, as I said, the American people are making a host of sacrifices in their individual lives,” Mr. Obama said, looking sternly at the goateed reporter.
Throughout the session, the president delivered a primer on the state of the economy and just how he plans to lead the nation out of a burgeoning recession. While he referred several times to the problems he inherited, he also appeared to take full ownership of the issues.
Still, reporters pressed for answers. ABC’s Jake Tapper followed up his own question on the budget, asking, “So is that a ’yes,’ sir? You’re willing to sign a budget that doesn’t have those two provisions?”
If the American people were looking for signs that the president is fully immersed in the details, they got them. He talked “back-end” economic projections, how to “bend the curve,” and even knew the ins and outs of just what “blue-chip forecasters” are saying.
The new, softer president also toned down his doomsday talk on the state of the economy, at one point calling it just a “rough patch.” While he still sought to tell America how bad the situation is - “I’m not going to lie to you” - he ended his latest session with a dose of pragmatism and a plea for a bit more time.
“I’m sure there’ll be more criticism and we’ll have to make more adjustments, but we’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “We haven’t immediately eliminated the influence of lobbyists in Washington. We have not immediately eliminated wasteful pork projects. And we’re not immediately going to get Middle East peace. We’ve been in office now a little over 60 days.
“What I am confident about is that we’re moving in the right direction. … This is big ocean liner; it’s not a speedboat. It doesn’t turn around immediately.”
• Joseph Curl can be reached at Joe Curl
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