President Obama got irritated over a reporter questioning his appointment of a lobbyist in the Defense Department when Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps, Politico is reporting.
Obama said he dropped in on the press corps just to visit, but a Politico reporter asked him how he can reconcile his ban on lobbyists in his administration yet have a Raytheon lobbyist working in the Pentagon.
Obviously irritated, the president smiled and tried to stare the reporter down before leaving. "We will be having a press conference at which time you can feel free to [ask] questions. Right now, I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to you guys," Obama said, according to Politico.
President Obama must understand by now that asking questions — especially hard ones — is what reporters do. It's about all they do all the time. No way to get around it.
Obama seems to be a very nice guy. But there aren't a lot of them in the press corps — just reporters looking for news.
It'll be interesting to see if Obama ever makes another "visit" with the press corps — without a flak jacket.
