Video: President Obama's Press Conference Pitch Perfect

The President held his third prime time news conference last night to mark his 100th day in office. The occasion carried with it some peril, as the President needed to thread the needle between optimism and self-congratulation.

In his opening remarks, President Obama addressed the swine flu outbreak, and struck the right note about his first 100 days, saying he was proud, but not content, with the achievements of the first 100 days.

The full transcript is available here. This is the full video of the news conference, followed by my brief commentary:


The best moment of the night, for me, was when the President good-naturedly punished Jeff Zeleny for his overwrought, four-part question about...wait, I can't do it justice:

Jeff Zeleny: Thank you, Mr. President. During these first 100 days, what has surprised you the most about this office, enchanted you the most about serving this in office, humbled you the most and troubled you the most?

Enchanted? Um, I guess I'd have to say it's the glass slippers the Secret Service puts on me every morning. Of course, they're bulletproof glass, so that's the troubling part.

If there was a possible misstep, it was in his response to the question about abortion:

Ed Henry: Thank you, Mr. President. In a couple of weeks you're going to be giving the commencement at Notre Dame and, as you know, this has caused a lot of controversy among Catholics who are opposed to your position on abortion. As a candidate you vowed that one of the very first things you wanted to do was sign the freedom of choice act, which, as you know, would eliminate federal, state, and local restrictions on abortion. And at one point in the campaign when asked about abortion and life, you said that it was "above my pay grade." Now that you've been President for a hundred days, obviously your pay grade is a little higher than when you were a senator - (laughter) - do you still hope that Congress quickly sends you the freedom of choice act so you can sign it?

THE PRESIDENT: You know, my view on abortion I think has been very consistent. I think abortion is a moral issue and an ethical issue. I think that those who are pro-choice make a mistake when they - if they suggest - and I don't want to create straw men here, but I think there are some who suggest that this is simply an issue about women's freedom and that there's no other considerations. I think, look, this is an issue that people have to wrestle with, and families and individual women have to wrestle with.

The reason I'm pro-choice is because I don't think women take that position casually. I think that they struggle with these decisions each and every day, and I think they are in a better position to make these decision ultimately than members of Congress or a President of the United States - in consultation with their families, with their doctors, with their clergy. So that's been my consistent position.

The other thing that I said consistently during the campaign is I would like to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies that result in women feeling compelled to get an abortion or at least considering getting an abortion, particularly if we can reduce the number of teen pregnancies, which has started to spike up again. And so I've got a task force within the Domestic Policy Council in the West Wing of the White House that is working with groups both in the pro-choice camp and in the pro-life camp to see if we can arrive at some consensus on that.

Now, the freedom of choice act is not my highest legislative priority. I believe that women should have the right to choose, but I think that the most important thing we can do to tamp down some of the anger surrounding this issue is to focus on those areas that we can agree on. And that's where I'm going to focus.

Ed Henry and Sarah Palin both seem to miss the point that the "pay grade" Obama referred to was that of mortal man, not of US Senator.

The President might take some heat from pro-choice groups for saying that the Freedom of Choice Act is not his highest priority, which will read "not a priority." Still, his pro-choice bona fides are not in question, and with all of the challenges facing the country, people get that not everything can be the most important.

Barack Obama has a way of calmly exploding the overheated rhetoric of his critics, best exemplified in part of his response to the final question, about "nationalization" of auto and financial companies:

But I want to disabuse people of this notion that somehow we enjoy meddling in the private sector. If you could tell me right now that when I walked into this office that the banks were humming, that autos were selling, and that all you had to worry about was Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, getting health care passed, figuring out how to deal with energy independence, deal with Iran and a pandemic flu - I would take that deal.

Although some have criticized the President for holding 3 news conferences in 3 months, if he performs like this at all of them, he should keep it up. The President's best weapon against creeping impatience and discontent is himself, answering for his administration directly to the American people.

Tommy on: Daily Dose:

• Rushing to Conclusions
• Robert Gibbs' Magical Powers and Other Observations
• Seniors Handcuff Selves to White House - No, Really
• The Republicans' First 100 Days


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