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President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with questions from journalists.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

"Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."

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"Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."

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Originally posted by piratenews:
Ask a stupid question...

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President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with questions from journalists.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

"Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."

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Brilliant he may be, but for his own good don’t forget that Obama’s a man, not a superman

Last updated at 7:55 AM on 22nd January 2009

Barack Obama is overflowing with integrity and honesty.
He will re-fashion politics, and take America forward into the next phase of her glorious history.
He is favourably compared to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. These are remarks we have heard from pundits as well as ordinary people in America and this country over the past few days. Are they true? It is impossible to say. At present there would seem to be little basis for saying them.
Of course his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States was moving. His speech on Tuesday, if not his very best, was stirring. There is a remarkable dignity and serenity about the man. He seems clever, committed and clear-thinking.

It would take a heart of stone not to celebrate his achievement as the first black man - or at any rate the first person of mixed race - to enter the White House. He has come from nowhere, or almost nowhere, through sheer strength of will to lead the world's most powerful nation. America, despite everything, retains the capacity to inspire.
And yet, and yet. When nearly everyone agrees on limited evidence that a person or thing is superlative, and somehow beyond criticism, it is usually a good idea to hang back from the crowd. Unanimity about any untested proposition makes me uneasy.
But that is what we have. It is not just the liberals who are mushy about him. Hard-baked Republicans have gone weak at the knees. There is a widespread hope bordering on expectation that this inexperienced President and his untried administration will be able to sort out the world's economic difficulties in a trice, and put America back on the path to prosperity while solving myriad international problems. If only it were that simple.
How eagerly we forget the disappointments of the past, and the scepticism that experience has taught us, so that we greet Mr Obama virtually as a Messiah. Desperate times evoke desperate hopes.
Our reaction reminds me of what happened in this country in 1997 after Tony Blair's landslide victory. Remember all the hoopla, and the genuine emotion. Even some Tories were misty-eyed. Many people were certain - as they are after Tuesday's inauguration - that there was a new beginning.
Alas, once the shining dawn had passed we soon entered a depressingly familiar landscape defined by broken promises, botched policies, and sleaze. Then came Iraq, and the realisation that Blair was not at all a 'straight kinda guy'. It was politics as usual.
My point is not that Mr Obama is an American re-tread of Tony Blair. There may be the same flashing smile, and the same contrived - and bogus - pretence of operating above politics. But the new President does seem a more substantial figure, and he does not obviously exhibit Mr Blair's craving to be loved.
No, the two men are not replicas. It is our unguarded euphoria that is the same. In fact, it is much greater now. People weep in the street, and pundits in countless studios become soppy. Everyone is for Obama, only much more so, as everyone was for Blair nearly 12 years ago.
This is not healthy. If a politician is beyond criticism, he is apt to feel and act like a god.
That is what has happened in countless totalitarian states, whose leaders invariably encourage a personality cult. It is not supposed to happen in modern democracies, but it does.
After their wipe-out in 1997, the Tories constituted a hopeless opposition. For the next few years the Republicans in Congress are likely to be equally feeble. If the media reaction to Mr Obama's inauguration is anything to go by, he will enjoy a generally supine and fawning Press, just as Mr Blair did until he ran into the buffers over Iraq.
So the new President may not be tested and held to account as he should be. Brilliant though he may be - and we really don't know one way or the other - he is undoubtedly very inexperienced.
In fact, I can't think of a U.S. President over the past 30 years who has assumed the highest office with so little executive experience. To be frank, Mr Obama has had none - just like Mr Blair in 1997.
Such political know-how that he does have was largely gleaned in the rather murky world of Chicago machine politics, where he had one or two dodgy associations that have already caused him some embarrassment. Media which are craven are hardly likely to shine a light into a closet that might contain more disturbing specimens.
New era, great expectations: George and Laura Bush welcome Barack and Michelle Obama to the White House. Obama has a lot to of work on his hands following 'George W. Bush... the worst American President in living memory'
Nor would people be wise to go on judging Mr Obama by the quality of his oratory rather than the efficacy of his deeds. Oratory can be uplifting, as Winston Churchill proved at various junctures during the last war, but America needs effective policies not pretty words. Mr Obama is a genius at making grandiloquent statements that would command the agreement of almost every person on the planet. Now we are looking for the beef.
In fact, I must own up to a feeling which in the present climate will be regarded as almost heretical. I realise that he is accounted by the media as one of the finest orators of all time. I read in one paper yesterday of his 'perfectly crafted sentences'. Really? His speeches sometimes seem to me woolly in their content, and hackneyed or overly sentimental in their delivery.
Take Mr Obama's reaction to the news that the 76-year-old Senator Edward Kennedy had collapsed and suffered convulsions at the inaugural lunch on Tuesday. He could have simply said that he was very sorry to hear the news, and that he hoped Mr Kennedy would get better soon. In the event he said in his characteristically overblown way: 'And so I would be lying to you if I did not say that right now part of me is with him.'

What insincere, over-the-top nonsense. One might almost say Blairite nonsense. Despite losing part of himself to the Senator, the President gamely attended ten balls with his wife.
Am I a cynical journalist who cannot recognise political genius and goodness and eloquence when they stare me in the face? Possibly. In fact, I hope so. No one would be more pleased than me if Mr Obama turned out to be half as wonderful as his supporters and cheerleaders think he is.
America and the rest of us face daunting challenges. In my book George W. Bush was the worst American President in living memory. No American occupant of the White House in recent times has bequeathed so many appalling problems, most of which were partly or largely of his own making. The United States and the world yearn for an outstanding President, and it will be wonderful if Mr Obama turns out to be that man.
But don't decide that he is until he has succeeded. Let him be held to account by politicians and the press and the people. Let's not forget that, despite being young, clever and charismatic, he is only a mortal politician. For his sake, as well as ours, we should not expect the impossible.

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He walked through to the press break room and spied the vending machines full of potato chips and chocolate bars. "We're thinking that maybe you might have some healthier snacks, though, guys," he said.

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