Thoughts on Obama's press conference
Whoops - I was so disappointed not to be called for a question that I wandered off into the night and forgot to post a post-press confererence thought.
My impression: he was on top form. All the chat-show nonsense, that sits so uneasily with this bookish man, was stripped away. So was the tele-prompter (except for the opening remarks) and the result was fluency and some passion.
The closing riff on the subject of persistence was not exactly revolutionary, but it felt like a genuine insight into how he sees himself and his presidency. Persistence and seriousness are in, chat shows are out. This is the central fact of the first 60 days.
Talking of serious points: I had taken in a copy of my book to give to a friend who works in the White House, but was still clutching it during the press conference - I toyed briefly with the idea of leaping forward to hand it to the president - would subsequent Amazon sales have made up for my sudden lack of gainful employment? I decided they would not.
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