Anonymous Briefings Rile White House Press Corps

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama maintained his trademark cool at last night's press conference, but he seemed back in campaign mode as he offered "well-honed arguments and sound bites" in favor of health care reform, writes Jane Sasseen of BusinessWeek. The president did a good job selling his plan, but he steadfastly avoided any specifics on the most contentious questions. The result: a press conference "devoid of much insight" that allowed the president to frame the debate, Sasseen concludes. More»

Press corps miffed by quiet social life, he suggests

(NEWSER) - President Obama isn't aloof, he says—it's just that he and Michelle don't tend to paint the town red. "My suspicion is that this whole critique has to do with the fact that I don’t go to a lot of Washington parties and, as a consequence, the Washington press corps maybe just doesn’t feel like I’m in the mix enough with them," he tells Time in an interview, noted by Politico . "And they figure, well, if I’m not spending time with them, I must be cold and aloof." More»

Book is due out Jan. 25

(NEWSER) - A mystery is sweeping Washington: Who penned the forthcoming O: A Presidential Novel ? The 368-page, $25.99 book, out for release Jan. 25, is about the Obama administration—and is reportedly written by an anonymous author who has “vast personal experience” with the subject, the Washington Post reports. Early rumors pointed to Joe Klein, the journalist who penned Primary Colors, a similar, initially anonymous, book about the Clinton campaign. But in an exchange with Yahoo! News , Klein says he really, really didn't write this one. More»

Press secretary will also hit the speech circuit

(NEWSER) - Robert Gibbs confirms that he's part of the long-rumored White House shakeup today, telling the New York Times that he'll leave the job in early February to become a political adviser. He's also looking to pick up a little loot on the speaking circuit. A successor is expected to be named within two weeks; aides tell the Times that President Obama is finalizing his staff changes today. More»

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»