Obama's 300 days of silence

The president has gone nearly a year without a "full scale" news conference, says Byron York in the Washington Examiner. How is he getting away with it?

Barack Obama.
(Image credit: Corbis)

President Obama is blatantly dodging the press, says Byron York in the Washington Examiner. He does one-on-one interviews with "sympathetic reporters," but his last "full scale" news conference was on July 22, 2009 — more than 300 days ago. That's much longer than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton ever went. Even more troubling is his "disdain for the press," which he consistently shows by letting his spokesman "stonewell" reporters (as is happening currently with respect to the mounting questions around Rep. Joe Sestak and a possible White House attempt to bribe him with a job). Here, an excerpt:

"In one sense, the press, or at least some members of the press, have only themselves to blame. Obama treats them with contempt because he knows that when big tests come, they've always been on his side. There's no reason for him to think they won't be there in the future. 'Most of you covered me,' he told the media elite at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Association dinner. 'All of you voted for me.'

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