Earlier this week, CBS News’ Chip Reid took issue with the fact that President Barack Obama declined to take questions from the White House press corp while signing the Press Freedom Act.
So you think that he would be happy when Yesterday, the President welcomed Mexican President Felipe Calderon to the White House. The pair held a news conference in the Rose Garden, where they took one question from the American news outlets, and one from the Mexican press. The lucky U.S. outlet was Univision, America’s largest Spanish-language television channel.
Jason Linkins at The Huffington Post writes about how Reid suggests the reason President Obama chose Univision was not because it was a joint news conference with the President of Mexico, but rather so that he could avoid a grilling from the White House press corp about, well, politics.
As he and President Calderon turned to walk back toward the Oval Office I asked, loudly enough for him to hear, if he had any comment on the elections. No response.
I then shouted “Do you have any plans for a REAL press conference?” No response, not that I expected one.
But let’s remember, shall we, that the other attendee was Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico, so it’s hardly beyond the pale for Univision to be called upon in that instance. In fact, one might observe that it was an entirely fitting decision.
But, everyone apparently really wanted to ask about Arlen Specter and what it meant for Obama’s political operation.