President Barack Obama is expected to hold an end-of-year press conference by Friday, where he’ll take predictable questions from a picked group of cautious and sympathetic journalists. What would you like to ask the president?
Obama is likely to get some questions about the stalled economy where only “The One Percent” has prospered, a question or two about Obamacare’s implosion, maybe a question about his “You can keep it” lie of the year, and perhaps questions about the Syrian rebel meltdown and the Iranian nuclear build-up.
But the entire set-up is designed to protect Obama from any serious embarrassment while he undergoes an unwelcome presidential obligation prior to his Christmas vacation in Hawaii.
He’s likely to escape any serious political damage, despite his failure to do win any of his goals, such as passage of a transformative immigration bill.
Despite what is almost unanimously considered to have been a rotten year for the president, Obama remains telegenic, glib and relaxed in front of cameras. Even the most awkward facts slide off of him.
He’s also protected by his fervent members of his personality cult, chiefly progressives, feminists, African-Americans and MSNBC anchors. The majority are expected to ignore any criticism of their hero, giving Obama more confidence to glide through criticism.
He’s also aided by the established journalists’ sympathy and caution.
White House spokesman Jay Carney helps pick the journalists who are invited to ask questions, as well as prepping the president’s answers.
Being invited to ask a question is a big prize for journalists, partly because it makes them and their employers look good. That reward of being picked, and the hope to be picked next time, puts journalists on their best manners, and deters them from asking tough questions.
Ideologically, nearly all members of the White House press corps are closer to progressivism than to the GOP’s small-government views. That outlook pushes them to treat Obama’s critics as marginal payers, and to view Obama’s failures as mere management problems, usually caused by GOP “obstructionism,” rather than as the predictable result of Obama’s flawed progressive ideology.
The media’s indulgent treatment of the president will likely continue until the next election starts, when most of the established media will be willing to sacrifice Obama’s reputation to help the next Democratic candidate.
Tough questioning, or even repeating the question when the president ducks and dives, can easily be interpreted by viewers as rude and overbearing, especially when the president is standing in the White House. Aggressive questions are also likely to be viewed as overly aggressive by journalists’ editors, by Democratic sources and by social peers, nearly all of whom voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.
Good questions are more difficult to draft and deliver than it seems. They are usually short. They start with a hard fact, may include an implied rebuke of the leader, and ask a directly related question that raises a broad ideological point.
The package is intended to focus attention on one issue, and then to goad or pressure the politician to actually explain his or her view of the issue.
Here’s an example.
“You claim to have enrolled 365,000 people in Obamacare during October and November. Did your failure to build that Obamacare system teach you anything about whether government can run healthcare systems, teach kids or create jobs better than private companies?”
Here’s one on immigration.
“You told us last week that reducing economic inequality is your new primary economic goal. But your current legislative goal of inviting 30 million immigrants in 10 years would widen the wealth gap by flatlining Americans’ wages and boosting Wall Street’s profits, according to the June report by the Congressional Budget Office. Can you tell us how tripling the immigration of low-wage foreign workers will help Americans reduce inequality by getting well-paying jobs in the next decade?”
Here’s a question on Syria.
“For more than a year, you’ve been trying to aid the non-radical rebels against Syria’s dictator. But the non-radical rebels joined the Islamic Al Qaeda look-alike groups, even as Syria’s government has decommissioned its chemical weapons. What have you accomplished to help a tolerant and peaceful government gain power in Syria?”
Write your own questions in the comments.