A Few Thoughts on the Obama Presser

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Holly Bailey

President Obama didn’t make a lot of news at his press conference Wednesday night, but that was probably by his own design. Speaking at his third primetime presser, held not coincidentally on his 100th day in office, Obama exhibited the style we’ve come to know about him in his short time as president: He likes to play it safe. Asked about Pakistan ahead of a major summit he’ll host next week with that country’s president and the leader of Afghanistan, Obama confessed that he is “gravely concerned” about the stability of the country. But pressed on what is widely considered the most worrisome scenario of Pakistan’s fragile state—the Taliban seizing control of the country’s nuclear weapons—and what the U.S. would do about it, Obama refused to go there, saying that he thinks the arsenal is still safe and that he won’t address a “hypothetical.”

Obama declared definitively that he believes waterboarding and the tactics discussed in the Bush era legal memos his administration recently released is “torture.” (Wait, he said torture!) And, in perhaps what was the most notable news of the night, the president said he had read the memos that former Vice President Dick Cheney wants declassified, and though he refused to go into details, Obama said he didn’t believe the “public justifications” for the techniques didn’t answer the “core” questions of whether we could have gotten the information by other means or if it had made the country safer. Another interesting answer was to CNN’s Ed Henry, who asked about the president’s support of abortion rights legislation. He still supports it, Obama said, but “freedom of choice is not my highest legislative priority.” We’ll bet Planned Parenthood, Emily’s List and other women’s rights groups didn’t like that answer. Has a president ever admitted an issue so important to many of his top supporters isn't at the top of his list?

Just as he’s done before, Obama called on certain reporters that were guaranteed to help him get a certain message out. The second question of the night went to Deb Price of the Detroit News, who asked about the auto industry. He also called on Telemundo, who asked about immigration reform and whether he’ll get it done this year (“I see the process moving this year,” Obama said) and Black Entertainment Television, who pressed Obama on what he’s doing to help “communities of color” who have been affected the most by the recession. Over the hour, Obama called on 13 news organizations, his answers averaging about 4 minutes apiece—a little more snappier than his first news conference back in February, where his answers seemed a wee bit long and rambling.

But what did we learn that’s new? Jeff Zeleny of the NY Times asked Obama what had enchanted, surprised, troubled and humbled him the most so far—an interesting question that prompted some revealing information about how the president is dealing with the trappings of his office. The president said he was surprised by the perfect storm of issues that seemed to land on his plate and how slow and stubborn Washington could be in dealing with issues. He said he was “enchanted” by the troops. “(I am) humbled by the fact that the presidency is an extraordinarily powerful but we are just part of a much broader tapestry of American life,” Obama said. “I can’t just push a button and suddenly have the bankers do exactly what I want, or turn a switch and suddenly Congress falls in line.” And just think, Mr. President, you still have more than 1,300 days to go.

Tag(s): Barack Obama

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Member Comments

Posted By: buttbahadar (May 4, 2009 at 2:41 PM)

Americans freedom of expression, long live!

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Posted By: buttbahadar (May 4, 2009 at 2:37 PM)

Pakistan is safe but America is destroying itself by unduly favoring Israel and India just for monitory gain to use Jewish capital and to exploit Indian market, one of the largest market of the world. Nobody can defeat a nation which have the courage to die himself to kill his enemy.