Emotionless

Listening to the President's press conference on Tuesday it struck me how flat and emotionless his voice was. He spoke about people dieing in the streets of Iran in the same flat tones that he used to speak about the economy and government run health care. It was really eerie. I wasn't the only one to notice either.

I was impressed by the question that was asked on behalf of the Iranian protesters, even if it was asked by someone from the Huffington Post. That is until I learned that it was all staged.

After the obligatory first question from the Associated Press, Obama treated the overflowing White House briefing room to a surprise. "I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post," he announced.

Obama knew this because White House aides had called Pitney the day before to invite him, and they had escorted him into the room. They told him the president was likely to call on him, with the understanding that he would ask a question about Iran that had been submitted online by an Iranian. "I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet," Obama went on. "Do you have a question?"

Pitney recognized his prompt. "That's right," he said, standing in the aisle and wearing a temporary White House press pass. "I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian."

Pitney asked his arranged question. Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row.

So much for the free press. Nice show though.