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Obama gets testy with the press

James Forsyth

Monday, 3rd March 2008

In recent weeks, Obama has been the presidential candidate who has been most distant from the press. Today, he held a media availability after his town hall in San Antonio. Unsurprisingly it was dominated by the story about a senior Obama advisor suggesting to Canadian officials that they should ignore the candidate’s anti Nafta rhetoric and the trial of Tony Rezko, a former Obama patron.

Obama’s performance was unimpressive. After taking heat from national and Chicago journalists about his ties to Rezko, Obama called a local reporter who—predictably—turned the conversation back to veterans’ issues. Obama then conspicuously failed to call Lynn Sweet, the Chicago Sun Times journalist who is an expert on this story.

The whole press conference was, to the press’s frustration, wrapped up quickly. On his way out, Obama tried to calm all us reporters down by pointing out that he had answered eight questions. But considering that this was on a day when it came out that the campaign’s blanket dismissal of the Canada Nafta story was wrong and when a former key supporter of his whom he purchased land from when on trial for corruption, eight questions is hardly sufficient.