Anchors Describe Obama Lunch on Web

By SteveK 

President Barack Obama met with 10 members of the press today over lunch at the White House — two from each network. The guest list consisted of ABC’s Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, CBS’ Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer, NBC’s Brian Williams and David Gregory, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and John King and FNC’s Bret Baier and Chris Wallace.

Although the lunch was “on background,” there have been a few reports about the meeting. Stephanopoulos tweeted about it after leaving. “Terrific sense of what Obama thinking and feeling. Clearly relishes job–esp tough decisions,” he writes. He also gave a glimpse at the menu. “Lobster bisque w beignets, seared Virginia bass w leeks and pot, pound cake w fruit compote and lemon sorbet,” he writes, clarifying “bass not served w cannabis! ‘Pot’ short for potato” in a later tweet.

Couric wrote a blog post about the lunch. “It’s safe to say we’ll hear from Dr. Obama tonight,” she writes. “He’ll level with the American people and explain that the patient is sick, here’s the diagnosis and that the prognosis is good.” She also described a joke that “got a big laugh” from the crowd. “He said he wishes he could do the job anonymously. At that point, his senior adviser said: ‘Then you’d be Dick Cheney,'” she writes.

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On ABC News Webcast, Gibson and Stephanopoulos described the lunch, and Stephanopoulos relayed what game the Obamas play at the dinner table. Click here to see the segment.

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