You Say Press Conference, I Say Softball Tourney

President Obama's first prime time presser isn't even over yet as I write this, but I can't wait to decry what a complete sham it was.

First off, virtually every answer he gave to a question related to the stimulus was equal in length to his ten-minute opening statement. His foreign policy answers, not so much. We got a healthy dose of ums and uhs there.

Second, the White House press corp can lob some nice pitches. The ones that Obama hit probably won't even land before next Tuesday.

Third, Helen Thomas touched on the presence of "so-called terrorists" in the hinterlands of Pakistan. "So-called terrorists?" Can someone tell me, is she still with UPI or did she go back to Pravda?

Fourth, Obama on more than one occasion blamed the previous administration for a $1 trillion deficit. Obama's going to double that deficit by the time he hits his second year in office, so he might want to temper the finger pointing. Also, the reason there was a $1 trillion deficit in the last year of the Bush administration was because of emergency spending to stem a financial crisis that had its origins in the loosening of lending practices so that low-income people could buy homes they ultimately couldn't afford.