Hail to the hidden one — After nearly seven months, Obama takes questions from WH correspondents

Earlier today, I was preparing a post questioning why the President hadn’t taken questions from the White House press corpses corps since July of last year.  Prior to today’s surprise press conference, the last press conference the President held, where he took questions from White House correspondents, was the now infamous blunder where he stated that the Cambridge police department acted stupidly and strongly insinuated they did so in a racist manner:

“I don’t know – not having been there and not seeing all the facts – what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two that he Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home,” Obama said in response to a question from the Chicago Sun-Times’s Lynn Sweet.

Gates, Obama allowed, “is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don’t know all the facts.”

However Gates, he continued, “jimmied his way to get into [his own] house.”

“There was a report called in to the police station that there might be a burglary taking place – so far so good,” Obama said, reflecting that he’d hope the police were called if he were seen breaking into his own house, then pausing.

“I guess this is my house now,” he remarked of the White House. “Here I’d get shot.”

Since that time, President Obama has made a great many appearances on TV, but almost always in highly controlled one-on-one interviews or staged town hall events, where the President is able to focus on the one or two points that are part of the message he wants to promote, rather than responding to the questions that the White House correspondents want answers to.

In President Obama’s first year, he only had question and answer sessions with White House correspondents 47 times vs. 147 times for President George W. Bush and 252 time for President Bill Clinton.  However, most of Obama’s Q & A sessions with the press corps came before August, with only 16 brief sessions since the President’s blunder that led to the now famous Beer Summit.

In contrast, Fox News reports that “Obama has granted 161 interviews, compared to 50 for Bush and 53 for Clinton.” It should be noted that only a few of those interviews have been granted to Fox News.

Helen Thomas, who had been a big supporter of the President and his agenda during his campaign and early in his Presidency, began to publicly grumble in July when she accused Robert Gibbs and the White House of controlling the press.  Stating that even President Nixon’s White House didn’t control the press like Obama’s administration does:

“Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try.

“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.”

Thomas said she was especially concerned about the arrangement between the Obama Administration and a writer from the liberal Huffington Post Web site. The writer was invited by the White House to President Obama’s press conference last week on the understanding that he would ask Obama a question about Iran from among questions that had been sent to him by people in Iran.

“When you call the reporter the night before you know damn well what they are going to ask to control you,” Thomas said.

“I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well–for the town halls, for the press conferences,” she said. “It’s blatant. They don’t give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.”

On Monday, Chip Reid of CBS, Chuck Todd of NBC and Helen Thomas again complained about President Obama’s refusal to take questions from White House correspondents:

“It’s a source of great frustration here,” says Chip Reid, CBS’s White House correspondent. “It’s important for us to hold the president’s feet to the fire.”

NBC White House reporter Chuck Todd calls the situation a “shame,” saying the administration is trying to control the message rather than allowing Obama to be seen “unscripted.”

Hearst columnist Helen Thomas said the president has “gone an obscenely long time, not holding one.”

Apparently succumbing to the growing outcry from the White House press corps and the media in general, President Obama made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room and took questions from the press corps for over a half hour today.

If you missed the press conference, we will have video of today’s Q & A session online shortly.

UPDATED:  You can watch a video of the press conference here.