No-Shock Barack Aces Day 100 Presser

And what is 'it,' anyway?

(NEWSER) - Jon Stewart has noticed a recurring theme in the coverage of the president’s post-election press conference: The pundits are all eager to know if Barack Obama "gets it," he explained on last night’s Daily Show in a segment titled "The Mourning After." But they’re less than clear on what "it" is. “I mean, as pronouns go, ‘it’ is amongst the vaguest,” Stewart pointed out. “‘It’ won’t even choose a sex.” More»

Now Dowd wants to play him at Scrabble

(NEWSER) - Turns out Tom Friedman played golf with President Obama last month—and fellow New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd isn't ashamed to admit she felt "a twinge of envy." Dowd's happy that Obama finally invited a woman to join him on the links this weekend, after catching heat over all-male basketball games and the "frat-house atmosphere" of White House meetings. Caught up in the spectacle of our first black president, "it took quite a while for anyone to accuse Obama of being exclusionary." More»

Broadcasters say 'overexposed' prez wastes valuable time

(NEWSER) - Networks are not happy about the primetime hour that President Obama's July 22 news conference took up, reports Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. Rahm Emanuel called the top brass at all three networks to ensure they carried the event. The networks both resent the pressure and complain that they’re not getting their money’s worth. “There was nothing” newsworthy, says one CBS VP. “There hardly ever is these days.” More»

(NEWSER) - Say what you want about President Nixon, but at least his press conferences were entertaining. “It was the Colosseum, and everybody’s thumb was down,” recalls staffer Pat Buchanan. “It was something worth watching.” The same can’t be said of President Obama’s all-too-frequent appearances. Last week’s health-care presser was “arguably the most listless televised hour” he’s delivered yet, writes Felix Gillette in the New York Observer. Obama’s become “nearly unwatchable.” More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama took over the network airways for an hour last night, but pundits doubt the dull press conference will move the needle on health care. Here’s what they’re saying:

• Obama blew his chance to turn the conversation around, writes Mike Madden of Salon. “If you'd listened to him talking about health care reform before, there wasn't much you hadn't already heard.” Indeed, he became animated only when someone changed the subject to race.