I gotta take issue with you on this one, Raunch. I thought the arrangement between Obama and Pitney was entirely appropriate and very deft. Generally speaking, any kind of collusion between the White House and reporters is Not a Good Thing, but there can be exceptions, and this was one of them.
What was "planted" in this case--unlike with Bush-- wasn't a question but rather the reporter, and it was done quite openly rather than surreptitiously. The question itself was entirely up to Pitney. Because of his superb reporting (live-blogging, actually) on the Iran situation, he was in a position to relay a question from an Iranian on the ground in Iran, and the White House invited him to the press conference to do exactly that. The election protests in Iran and the brutal crackdown by the regime are unique in history, in that a great deal of the information about what's going on is being conveyed through "social networking"--Twitter, Facebook, and other Internet-based media--because the Iranian regime is prohibiting journalists, including foreign journalists, from reporting from Iran in the normal way. Pitney is tuned in to the citizen journalism coming out of Iran via the social media. Obama is treading extremely carefully on a fine line between support for the protesters versus open opposition to Ahmadinejad. Answering a question from an Iranian protester, relayed to a U.S. journalist via the Internet, was one way of doing this. As the AP article you linked to reported: ----- Pitney, Huffington Post's national editor, asked Obama what he described as a question from one of the people "still courageous enough to be communicating online" about whether Obama would recognized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, or if such a move would be a betrayal of protesters. "Ultimately, the most important thing for the Iranian government to consider is legitimacy in the eyes of its own people, not in the eyes of the United States," Obama said, repeating a familiar refrain. "And that's why I've been very clear: Ultimately, this is up to the Iranian people to decide who their leadership is going to be and the structure of their government." ----- Good question, and good answer. The article continues: ----- White House officials say they wanted to highlight the role of the Internet in the protests that followed Iran's elections as well as reach out directly to Iranians. "Given his substantive contacts and reporting in Iran, answering Pitney's question seemed like the best way to communicate to the Iranian people since there's not an Iranian press corps here in Washington," said deputy press secretary Josh Earnest, who escorted Pitney to the news conference and told other reporters to make room for him. ----- Makes perfect sense to me. It's also a good thing in that responsible bloggers who focus on domestic and foreign politics *should* be included in presidential press conferences. Granted, there's a slippery slope here, and the White House took a small step down it. We need to be vigilant they don't go any further in collaborating with the media. I don't think this step makes that inevitable, as long as we keep our eyes open. On another point: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "raunchydog" <raunchy...@...> wrote: <snip> > I must have been prescient because at the TV and Radio > Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday Obama joked, "I have > to admit, though, it wasn't easy coming up with fresh > material for this dinner. A few nights ago, I was up > tossing and turning, trying to figure out exactly what > to say. Finally, when I couldn't get back to sleep, I > rolled over and asked [ABC anchor] Brian Williams what > he thought." > > Williams got some criticism for "bowing" to Obama after > an exclusive interview with Obama, and Obama sees fit > to humiliate him in public? Arrogant much, Mr. President? Boy, I didn't think Obama was trying to "humiliate" Williams. He was gently mocking the notion that he's in bed with the media, making fun of both Williams and himself. Williams has a terrific, very bent sense of humor, and I'd be astonished if he didn't find the crack hilarious.
