I watched a small portion of President Obama’s Press conference today and it was beyond pathetic.   President Obama just ignores the White House press pool.  He is famous for bypassing them and giving interviews to local reporters who are guaranteed to not ask any tough questions.  Just recently he ditched them so he could play golf with Tiger Woods.  Yet, incredibly, the White House press corps is still totally in the tank for this president.   He “finally” gave a press conference and yet no one asked a single significant question:   President Obama started by blaming EVERYTHING on republicans: 

OBAMA: And let’s be clear: None of this is necessary. It’s happening because a choice that Republicans in Congress have made. They’ve allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit.

As recently as yesterday, they decided to protect special- interest tax breaks for the well-off and the well-connected, and they think that that’s apparently more important than protecting our military or middle-class families from the pain of these cuts.

This was so bad and so obvious that one reporter timidly asked if President Obama accepted any responsibility himself:  He responded by asking them what they would recommend.  Following is the answer to his question: 

QUESTION: Mr. President, to your question, what could you do. First of all, couldn’t you just have them down here and refuse to let them leave the room until you have a deal?

OBAMA: You know, the — I mean, Jessica (ph), I — I am not a dictator. I’m the president. So, ultimately if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, “We need to go to catch a plane,” I can’t have Secret Service block the doorway. Right?

It just doesn’t get any worse than this.  No one even mentioned that the whole sequestration deal was his idea and that he lied about it.  No one pointed out that every wage earner in the United States got a tax increase effective January 1, 2013 and they have all had to cut their spending.  Yet the President of the United States cannot possibly manage to cut expenses by 2.5% without making drastic cuts to essential services.   

I remember those great press conferences with Jack Kennedy where he sparred with reporters.  Presidents used to actually get asked real questions and they gave real answers.  The main stream media has always been liberal and they have always cut Democratic presidents a lot of slack, but they at least used to pretend to be reporters.  Now Obama gives this rambling monologue and the only question they can think to ask is why he can’t lock republicans in a room until they agree with him.  I don’t know when I have been more appalled and more disgusted. 

TDM