June 23, 2009 3:29 PM

A More Contentious Obama Press Conference

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
White House
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Barack Obama's fourth solo White House press conference differed from his past efforts in many ways: It was held during the day instead of prime time. It was the first to be held in the briefing room. It featured a question that had been directly solicited by the White House.

And perhaps most notably, the feel was simply different. The president faced a press corps that at times seemed exasperated and was quick to challenge him, and Mr. Obama seemed more frustrated with his questioners than he has been in the past.

The primary point of contention was Iran. The president opened the press conference by ratcheting up his rhetoric, saying he is "appalled and outraged" by the violence and threats against protesters. He had been criticized in recent days by John McCain and others for not offering stronger criticism of the Iranian regime.
That prompted this question from Fox News' Major Garrett: "What took you so long?"

The president responded by saying, in part, "we've been entirely consistent, Major, in terms of how we've approached this."

That's a stretch – the president had previously been nowhere near as strong in his criticism as he was today. He was later short with Garrett, repeating exact words in response to a follow up on potential diplomatic relations with Iran.

Before you say, "hang on, this is conservative-leaning Fox you're talking about, it doesn't mean all that much," consider the fact that an even more contentious back-and-forths took place with other correspondents.

Here's an exchange between Mr. Obama and NBC's Chuck Todd:
Todd: Mr. President, I want to follow up on Iran. You have avoided, twice, spelling out consequences. You've hinted that there would be from the international community, if they continue to violate -- and you said "violate these norms." You seemed to hint that there -- there are human rights violations taking place.

MR. OBAMA: I'm not hinting. I think that when a young woman gets shot on the street when she gets out of her car, that's a problem.

Todd: Then why won't you spell out the consequences that the Iranian people...

MR. OBAMA: Because I think that we don't know yet how this thing is going to play out. I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not. OK?
The next questioner was ABC's Jake Tapper, who opened, with, "Before I ask my question, I wonder if you could actually answer David's [on health care]." Mr. Obama didn't seem to like that.

"You think you're going to -- are you the ombudsman for the White House press corps?," he asked. "What's your question -- is that your question?"

The president soon attempted an uneasy joke after Tapper's question referenced Mr. Obama's "Spock-like language about the logic of the health care plan" – the president quipped "is that a crack on my ears?" – but it fell flat.

Mr. Obama would later knock a reporter's attempt to tie his smoking habit to yesterday's tobacco legislation because, he argued, the bill is focused on children.

"I think it's fair, Margaret, to just say that you just think it's neat to ask me about my smoking as opposed to it being relevant to my new law," he said.

With Bloomberg's Hans Nichols, the president got into a mini-argument about whether he would prognosticate about the ceiling for the unemployment rate; when Helen Thomas interjected as he was answering a question toward the end, he told Thomas to "hold on a second" but did not go back to her.

At one point, CBS News' Chip Reid asked if Mr. Obama was "influenced at all by John McCain and Lindsey Graham accusing you of being timid and weak." Responded Mr. Obama (albeit with a smile): "What do you think?"

All this said, the overall tone of the press conference was certainly civil. It just wasn't quite as civil as it has been in the past. Is this evidence that the press corps is turning against the president? That might be a stretch. But it does seem to reflect the fact that reporters have clear lines of inquiry on issues like Iran, health care and the economy -- and that Mr. Obama does not seem to be able to dismiss them quite as easily as he might like.

More Coverage Of Obama's Press Conference:
Obama: "Appalled And Outraged" At Iran Violence
Obama Lauds Public Health Care Option, But Stops Short Of Ultimatum
Obama Acknowledges Occasional Smoking Habit
Full Text | Full Video
Highlights: Obama's Press Conference
Analysis: A More Contentious Obama Press Conference
Washington Unplugged: Obama Ratchets Up Iran Rhetoric

Add a Comment See all 58 Comments
by stmtraveler June 25, 2009 9:39 PM EDT
Obama and Road to Iran:
Iranian peaceful demonstration was turned into street riot, burning buses, destroying property, and looting instigated by MKO and others.

Some Iranians suggest that Neda Agha Soltan was killed by one of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) agents. She was killed to create emotional reaction by Iranians against their government.

What did we do during Watts Riots of 1965, a large-scale race riot which lasted 6 days in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, causing mayhem and public property damage? What do we do if a peaceful demonstration in Washington about any issue would be taken over by outsiders to the demonstration and made into Watts type of riot? What can they do? They must restore order or accept anarchy. What did we do at Watts, Detroit and DC, and at Kent State? USA called in the National Guard.

Why did we not respond to the 2000 and 2004 flawed elections? The Supreme Court decided the vote for the 2000 election. An equivalent organization, Guardian Council will decide the result of the vote for Iran.

The Iran Freedom and Support Act ? 2005, created a $10 million fund for support of Iranian democracy ? as a starting point on how to lead Iranian protesters, create sabotage and mayhem to lead to regime change in Iran. USA under President George Bush had provided MKO with technical and financial support for special operations and anti-Iranian activities. Did our support for MKO contributed to the death of Neda?

USA must allow Iranian people to solve their own internal problems.
Mr. President I support your diplomatic approach to Iran.
Reply to this comment
by CLoverNYC1 June 25, 2009 4:41 PM EDT
by renojmc June 25, 2009 1:18 PM PDT
We have a pathetic fawning sycophant press corps.
----------------------

President Obama swats a fly and it goes global.

That about sums it up.
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by renojmc June 25, 2009 4:18 PM EDT
We have a pathetic fawning sycophant press corps. True journalism is pretty much dead in America.
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by CLoverNYC1 June 25, 2009 12:16 PM EDT
President Obama was unprepared for such an abrupt end to the sloppy lovefest free pass he's been getting from the press.

He responded with sarcasm, a joke that fell flat and everything except straight answers.

That's because it's difficult to talk out of both sides of your mouth extemporaneously.

Without the help of the teleprompter god, his powers of captivating speech are substantially weakened.
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by sem042004 June 24, 2009 5:00 PM EDT
Obama obviously does not like be called on his inconsistencies, half answers, or non-answers. He never answered Tapper's questions about health care. Or course it sounds like many of you are easily mesmerized with non-answers because he states them eloquently.

So if a well spoken wordsmith were to rob you at gunpoint, would it still be robbery, or would you thank him for not being a dumb Texan and hand over your wallet? We know the answer. It's not what you say, it's how you say it. Watch your dear leader as the economy circles the drain and foreigners lose respect for the US and the dollar.
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by johninpennsyl June 24, 2009 2:34 PM EDT
From the tone of the questions it sounds like the Flying Wimps Typewriter Brigade is ready for a war with Iran.
If we don't agree with the outcome of a country's election,we should drop bombs on them.The White House correspondents can be our ground invasion force.
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by nydrak June 24, 2009 4:17 PM EDT
John, yes. drop bombs. The neocons have found a new home in the Obama circles and are working their war magic there. Pakistan has 2 million refugees now. Did the US invasion of Afghanistan and our bombing inside Pakistan contribute to this human tragedy of epic proportions? Sure.. big deal. we wanted to get bin laden at all costs...
Afghanistan is now Obama's Viet Nam and Pakistan is now his Cambodia. He owns them now, sadly .. instead of using some common sense like military actions can't end terrorism, never have and never will.
by nydrak June 24, 2009 1:03 PM EDT
My concern is the President's lack of understanding of human nature concerning market decisions. Although patients brag about not paying anything for care, 'free' care is precisely what is escalating costs.
When patients pay a copay or pay nothing, finding less expensive alternatives matter less.
If a grocery store gives away ?free? food, who would not take the fillets instead of hamburger? After a generation or two, all the ?shoppers? would forget that fillets are more scarce than hamburger and used to cost more. The only way to ?fairly? distribute fillets would be rationing. Once a year, a family would get a voucher which entitled them to fillets giving rise to a new Entitlement. Soon the politically connected learn that the lobbyists tend to spend more on the campaigns of incumbents who have slipped the lobbyists a few vouchers under the table.
Health care is a lot like that in America. I?m on Medicare and often I pay nothing. Many callers to cspan express that as a good thing, but it?s, in fact, creating the problem. Without knowing the costs of procedures, there is no incentive to shop around and limit my fillet consumption to fit my budget.

My brother lives in a small town in Nebraska and we both had colonoscopies before we were on Medicare. We talked about how expensive they were and he said their small town hospital had invited a doctor to visit a few times a year and give colonoscopies there which cut the cost from thousands, in the big city hospital, to hundreds in his town.

When I was faced with buying my own mammogram, I asked for 3 providers and phoned them doing price comparison. When I was faced with the need for an ultrasound, I asked if there was a cash discount. There was. My deductible of $1800 caused me to shop around.

I truly believe that if all health insurance was treated like fire and auto insurance (only used for catastrophic loss), premiums (and prices) would drop like a stone. Our leaders don?t understand economics and they are building us a behemoth system that will reward the connected and eventually ration care for the rest.

Nydra in Bellevue, NE
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by credibility2 June 24, 2009 12:53 PM EDT
Obama is a smart-mouthed punk bred on the streets of corrupt Chicago politics while being raised on the milk of socialists. He is crude and resents anyone having the temerity to question, challenge, scrutinize or re-direct. He lives in a fantasy land where everything is just ducky and birds fly, the sky is blue, there's no rain and everyone is compliant and subservient to his whims and fancies. Unless his audience bows down and grovels at his boots, licking them, he's miffed that not all is well with his imaginary world and that there may even be some that dare to confront him.
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by trueseek1 June 24, 2009 12:08 PM EDT
Wow! first time ever to read objective news from cbsnews on obama! However, the follow up video link was atrciously promoting obama on every front. The blog is a good start for some real reporting on Iran and other major issues that obama has dropped the ball on, and we are following France, Germany, Spain and Australia on, but please add this type of real reporting to your evening news videos and tv scheduled news programs.
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by hamiltongrad June 24, 2009 11:00 AM EDT
Speaking about health care.
1. There is not crisis.
2. In Mass. where they do have mandatory health insurance and a more socialistic scheme, the WAIT TIMES to see your DOCTOR has more than tripled ! How would like to wait 4 weeks to see your family doc because you are puking all over yourself. ?
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