Liveblogging the Obama presser

Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 12:54 AM Share

There are many quadrennial rites of occasion -- the Olympics, the World Cup, the, er... [C'mon, you need one more!!--ed.] the Quadrennial Defense Review [Nice save!--ed.].  And, of course, the first post-inauguration press conference.  Your humble blogger will be covering it live by updating this post quite frequently. 

8:00 PM:  I'll be watching this on CNN, in the hopes that Anderson Cooper will ask a question via hologram.

8:05 PM:  The key economic statement of the opening statement:  "The federal goverment is the only entity left with the resources that that can jolt this economy into life." 

8:08 PM:  Good initial response to the AP question, referencing the Japan recession.  Of course, the repeated efforts at fiscal stimulus in that country didn't work terribly well.  And he went on way too long.

8:14 PM:  At this rate, Obama will answer less than ten questions at this press conference. 

8:16 PM:  Just realized that the press conference will pre-empt the criminally underrated How I Met Your Mother.  Suddenly feeling that Obama is part of the problem, not part of the solution. 

8:20 PM:  Non-answer on Iran, until the very end, when he mentions that Iran has both rights and responsibilities as a member of the international community.  This could be a clever way of signaling that the U.S. is prepared to recognize Iran's right to a nuclear program, so long as Tehran is prepared to accede to safeguards.  We'll see how this formulation plays in Iran.

8:30 PM:  In response to a good question from Chuck Todd, Obama says, "the party now is over" and that "we have to adapt to new circumstances."  I think he's subtly hinting that he wants Todd to leave the building. 

8:33 PM:  Bloomberg reporter, in her question, says, "Many experts, from Nouriel Roubini to Senator Chuck Schumer..."  I fail to hear the rest of the question, as the notion of calling Schumer an "expert" at anything to do with economics causes my head to explode. 

8:35 PM:  It appears that Obama is asking for questions in a pre-arranged order.  Did any president before Bush 43 do this? 

8:39 PM:  Obama's metrics for economic success:  the creation of 4 million jobs, the unfreezing of credit markets, and the stabilization of housing prices.  It's gracious of Obama to acknowedge that the federal govenment doesn't have "complete control" over that last category. 

8:41 PM:  In answer a question on Afghanistan, Obama takes pains to distance himself from Hamid Karzai.  Also mentions the actions of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the region.  Obama should really ead my colleague Tom Ricks on this matter. 

8:45 PM:  Oooohhh, Fox News's first question!!  And it's about Joe Biden!!  This gives Obama his first real opportunity for an easy laugh in his response.  

8:48 PM:  A question about A-Rod!  I'm mostly glad that Obama's answer was short and did praise MLB's toughening stance on the issue. 

8:49 PM:  Obama loses his Helen Thomas virginity.  Good answer on preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, managing to connect it to arms control with Russia.  Thomas, God bless her, tries to keep talking. 

8:53 PM:  The Huffington Post gets a White House reporter?  Who knew?!

8:57 PM:  Obama closes with an appeal to pragmatism, but I wonder if there's as much expert consensus on important issues as Obama thinks there is. 

9:01 PM:  And it's over.  I thought all players played their part well, but I would have liked to have seen shorter answers.  For all his talk about the stimulus, I actually think his answer on Iran might be the most newsworthy. 

EXPLORE:POLITICS, LIVEBLOGGING, OBAMA, PRESS CONFERENCES, STIMULUS
 

FRIEDA

1:41 AM ET

February 10, 2009

respecting Iran

As an iranian, I am sad to see that he talks about Iran without once mentioning the human rights abuses in iran. Iran has one of the highest women political prisoner and obama wants to have a mutual respect!!!!! respect for what?

all is his "pre conditions" are nothing new, so why does he think that Iran will now talks to his administration. Would they stop funding the terrorist, Hamas, Hezboullah just because his the president?

 

SAM

8:23 PM ET

February 10, 2009

were you happy by Bush's

were you happy by Bush's policies? what about Clinton's policies? the ones (Helm-Burton, D'Amato, etc,) that truly hurt Iran's economy, elite (by severely restricting Iranian professors' and teachers' access to US educational and research institutions) and weakened the secular private sector and bureaucrats by significantly increasing the costs of trading with the outside world! which only left the OIL sector revenues that is completely controlled by the government.

Iran's women aren't completely fine, but their situation is much better than those in countries around them, and they don't need your suggestions of putting even more pressure on the shoulders of Iran's weak middle class. Thanks but no thanks.

 

SLEEPYIRV

3:48 PM ET

February 10, 2009

Did you really think Chuck

Did you really think Chuck Todd asked a "good question?" The question was both incorrect AND completely misses how countries get out of recessions.

 

MAKR G

4:09 PM ET

February 10, 2009

Re the Iran question

Re the Iran question (Drezner's take below), it struck me that the President used the word "unacceptable" as to Iran's funding of Hamas, but did not use that word as to Iran's program to develop nuclear weapons. The President is, to my ear, virtually assuring Iran that the US will not use force to prevent its acquisition of nuclear weapons, or even to compel "meaningful safeguards," whatever those might be. I wonder whether folks with expertise heard the same thing I did.

******************************8

Non-answer on Iran, until the very end, when he mentions that Iran has both rights and responsibilities as a member of the international community. This could be a clever way of signaling that the U.S. is prepared to recognize Iran's right to a nuclear program, so long as Tehran is prepared to accede to safeguards.

 

ERICCOX

4:10 PM ET

February 10, 2009

Dan, while I disagree with

Dan, while I disagree with some of your analysis, that isn't the source of my comment. You have hit on my real frustration at watching a press conference where I learned nothing new (my prior beliefs were not updated in the least): No "How I Met Your Mother Episode." One of my guilty pleasures each week.

 

KENNETH ALMQUIST

4:56 PM ET

February 10, 2009

It appears that Obama is

It appears that Obama is asking for questions in a pre-arranged order. Did any president before Bush 43 do this?

I'm not aware of a president who hasn't done that. It's standard practice to call on reporters in the order of the importance of the news organizations they work for. The order changes a bit over the years (at one time the two wire services AP and UPI would go first, followed by the three television networks), but certainly in modern times no president has gone into a press conference and called on reporters in a random order.

 

BLUE13326

7:45 PM ET

February 10, 2009

Yeah, I've got to agree,

Yeah, I've got to agree, Todd's question revealed a complete ignorance of economics.

And look, the market loves the Obama Economic Armageddon Plan: it's only down 400 points. Three cheers for giving billions of dollars to ACORN, so they can commit more electoral fraud! If that doesn't get us out of a recession, nothing will!

 

Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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