Alas, I wish there were more press conferences for me to synopsize, but the president being who he is, we must satisfy ourselves with what we have. What we have today is an hour-and-17 minute press conference in which he took 22 questions, stuttered no fewer than five times, and laughed inappropriately at least once (Hint: Answers to questions about bin Laden’s capture a day before 9/11 should not be preceded by a chuckle.), but ended on a surprisingly strong note and, though he meandered, didn’t manage to meander into a major gaffe of any kind.

I started watching the event a tad late, and thought I was listening to Obama’s opening statement, but I was informed by a colleague about 7 minutes in that it was, in fact, his answer to the first question. He does have a way with words. Lots and lots of words.