First Time: Reporter Turns Aggressive with Obama
Holy moly!
That’s the historic headline on today’s Drudge Report. The story quoted is from USA Today.
From it one can glean that President Obama isn’t a fellow who’d duck and make a joke if somebody threw a shoe at him. The exchange was with a reporter from Texas:
President Obama has troubles with voters in Texas, and, apparently, with interviewers from the Lone Star State as well.
“Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, all right?” Obama told reporter Brad Watson after an interview with WFAA-TV of Dallas, one of four interviews with local television stations at the White House on Monday.
Obama also fired back at criticism from the conservative Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
“Gov. Perry helped balance his budget with about $6 billion worth of federal help — which he happily took — and then started blaming the members of Congress who had offered that help,” Obama said.
Obama also bristled at claims that is administration skipped Houston in the award of space shuttle orbiters and favored states that could help his re-election.
“That’s wrong,” the president stated. “That had nothing to do with it; the White House had nothing to do with it.”
When Watson persisted, Obama said, “I just said that was wrong,” and, later, “I just said that wasn’t true.”
“I just said that was wrong.” That’s what I call petulent. The president could have made his argument regarding Gov. Perry without in effect calling the governor a liar. Although mainstream media in Washington can be counted upon to resume its slobbering love affair with President Obama as the 2012 campaign nears, this story feeds into a developing meme that the president isn’t as nice a person as was thought. It’s about the likability factor. President Obama would do well to take a page from George Bush’s playbook and learn how to take criticism in stride. Otherwise, people really will start thinking he is a spoiled brat.