PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLIES….Joe Klein:
Watching the Obama rollout of his national security team from overseas — I’m in Europe, on my way to Afghanistan — I was struck by the inanity of most of the questions from my colleagues.
No kidding. Did any of you guys see it? Obama only took four or five questions, and nearly all of them were just plain dumb. (And yes, there is such a thing as a dumb question.) As usual, when TV cameras are on, reporters were drawn like moths to flame toward a certain Russertesque style of “tough” questioning that’s completely content free and, in reality, childishly easy to sidestep for any competent politician. Klein again:
What’s the point of raising the nasty things Obama and Clinton said about each other during the primaries? Did the reporter expect Obama to say, “Well, I still believe her resume is overblown, that’s why I appointed her…oh, and by the way, she still thinks it’s dumb to talk to the Iranians without preconditions.”
Needless to say, Obama swatted this question away without raising a sweat. The result, as usual, was a missed opportunity to at least try to get some substantive news out of the announcement. What a bunch of nitwits.
