Obama Takes In The White House Press Room

Just how many scribblers have to share that notebook?

When he passed the press vending machines, which offer candy bars and potato chips, he suggested that we "might want to have healthier snacks."
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Hell, Obama, just install a tire swing and you're golden.
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One reporter tried to ask him about his new ethics policy, and he declined to answer.
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Damn! That Gannon guy still has press credentials?

I got to say, it's smaller than I thought [...]

I hope you got off a "That's what she said."

pourme wins the thread already lol

Are you the Time Mag WH reporter, Michael, or was this just a drop-in?

no cute nicknames? nice change.

fun story. I bet the press was agog over a president coming down to say hello.

What a heart-warming story about our valiant and humble leader greeting the scribes who transcribe his great works for we, the people. Even passing a snacks machine his thoughts are always how to improve the lives of others!
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However, how many of those scribes were actually using their notepads to cover their "excitement"?

When this moment comes, please share it Mike:
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Reporter gets tough against Gibbs. Gibbs gets his big brother, Barack the Destroyer, to challenge said scribe (if it's you Mike, all the better) to some one-on-one, you bust your best move and get you shee-ot capped, winding up on yo backside. Add the vid and all will hail ye.
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Meanwhile, a la Halp's daily updates about Obama's gym visits, as if they were breaking news, could we get a reporter in the oval office bathroom--we need to know if he wipes left-handed, if he's a reader, does the blackberry enter the john with him et al.

Re #10: Better trolls, please.

Is that new, Michael? Because as far as I knew, Time Mag never had a regular WHPC, and I have paid close attention all these years. I never saw you at the briefing, or read a question from you to Dana and her bunch. If so, well, congrats. Do you have your own cubicle?

Michael, I guess congrats on your promotion

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I think it is really strange and ironic that Time Mag has assigned a WH reporter, no slight to you, Michael. I mean, it's not like the bushies made no news that Time Mag couldn't use in the past 8 years. It's just, I guess, that they chose not to look too closely at what the bushies were doing, lest they'd have to move beyond the fluffing they regularly perform on conservatives.
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But now, when normal people have learned how to bypass the Washington mainstream media, and the Obamabites have promised a new transparency, making important information even *more* accessible to the normal people, making the DC Media elite even more irrelevant, that Time Mag has suddenly decided to spring for a dedicated WH reporter. Wow! Amazing.
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Yeah, maybe Mike will ask the hard questions of Obama that all those other reporters neglected while Bush ran the show. Is there a reason why Time assigned an obvious right-winger as a watchdog, or am I just imagining fourth estate intrigue?

Politico's Jonathan Martin calls Obama "agitated" in his article since Obama didn't answer his lobbyist question. Putting that type of distorted spin on things is why the fun visits stop. Hopefully, it wont though in this Administration.

To amplify James #15 above, check out http://www.whitehouse.gov. You will likely be better informed about what the Administration is up to than the talking heads are.
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Kudos for the Obama team's effort to remove the plywood covering the public windows of the Executive Branch.

Kevin Drum has a fine post on how Obama might engage the trivia-obsessed media, that ends with this suggestion:
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I'd say that he should send a consistent message about the value of serious journalism by providing the best access to the most serious journalists. Not the ones who are the most famous, or have the biggest audiences, or who agree with him the most often, but the ones who have written or aired the sharpest, liveliest, most substantive, most penetrating critiques of what he and his administration are doing. He should spar with them, he should engage with them, he should take their ideas seriously. Eventually, others will start to get the message: if you want to get presidential attention, you need to say something smart. It's too late to for this to have any effect on media buffoons like Maureen Dowd or Chris Matthews, but you never know. It might encourage a few of the others to grow up. It's worth a try, anyway.
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As the new WH reporter for Time, what say you Michael? Will you respond to Nice Guy's question: "Is there a reason why Time assigned an obvious right-winger as a watchdog, or am I just imagining fourth estate intrigue?" by becoming an excellent, serious reporter who engages on substantive facts and eschews trivia? You have had some excellent posts of late (such as Barack Obama's Inaugural Train Ride)- which proved you are capable of thought and prose. It would be fun to see you try.

Congratulations and, as we say, brake a leg!

You have to wonder how much of a coincidence it is that the wingnut triumverate of Scherer/Tapper/JMart all ended up becoming WH correspondents. Especially when they played Drudge pinball between the three of them all election season. I can't begin to try to count the amount of times they all linked back to each other and of course Drudge with every supposed tidbit on Obama. I am trying not to be a tinfoil hatter but it does strike me as very very odd. JMart covered McCain, Scherer covered McCain, and Tapper wished he was covering McCain. Something is a little fishy here....

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Michael, who was the regular WH reporter before you? Did he ever show up at the briefing? Ask any questions? I don't recall ever seeing a Time Mag reporter on that beat. Anyways, congrats, I hope you enjoy the new digs.
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Politico: Make no mistake, Politico is a right-leaning organization. Their Drudge-whoring is unparalleled -- that's what they live for. I've seen claims that Drudge links constitute fully 1/3 of their total traffic. However, they are universally read in DC Elite circles. So the Obamabites *must* suck up to them.
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sg,
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they all belong to the same echo chamber. The President of the Jake Tapper Fan Club used to write for Salon, too, I think. Martin, I don't know. It's that pathological DC party circuit kool guyz cynical all-knowing insider political journo class. They think they are important because they "made it." Nowhere else do so many make so much and do so little, with such limited talent.
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@j,la: So the Obamabites *must* suck up to them.
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I dunno. Obama made history while bucking conventional wisdom and ignoring the "must do" suggestions of just about everyone who has any degree of experience in politics. I think Obama is blazing his own path - successfully, so far - and I'd be disappointed if his "people" started sucking up, now.