The White House on Wednesday downplayed an analysis that said President Obama could finish his tenure having held fewer press conferences than either President George W. Bush or President Clinton.
The “president was just out here five days ago doing a news conference with all of you, standing at this podium; so, you know, he does them with some regularity,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest responded on Wednesday. “[T]here are a lot of different ways to slice and dice the numbers here,” he said.
Earnest defended Obama’s accessibility by claiming that he has sat down individually with more reporters than any of his predecessors.
“Obama has done more one-on-one interviews with reporters, both from the White House and from other places, than any of his predecessors,” Earnest said. “I think that is a testament to the president’s desire to try to engage with independent professional journalists who are interested in understanding exactly what he’s doing.”
Obama has been criticized for end-running the White House press corps in favor of untraditional venues in search of a more hospitable environment.
Last year, he made waves when he traveled to California to sit in comedian Marc Maron’s garage to record a podcast. His use of the N-word in that informal setting made headlines. He was criticized again in January for doing interviews at the White House with YouTube “stars,” some of whom asked trivial questions.
“Well, I think the president’s done a lot of news conferences,” Earnest added. “It certainly is your job as you sit here in the briefing room, and as you cover the president every day, to advocate for more access to the president and for more news conferences and more opportunities to ask him a question.”
