An intrepid sixth-grader did Thursday what few in the press have ever had the nerve to do: let President Obama know when he’s being long-winded.
Osman Yahya was not afraid to suggest during their interview that the president was rambling, cutting off the commander in chief so that they could move their discussion forward.
The moment came as Obama met with young students Thursday morning as part of a “virtual field trip” hosted by Discovery Education. The president sat down to discuss reading, writing and increasing students’ access to libraries.
One student during the Q&A portion of Thursday’s interview asked Obama if he gets writer’s block, prompting Yahya to ask the commander in chief to first explain the concept of writer’s block.
Later, another student asked Obama if he enjoys reading, which Yahya was quick to note that the president had already answered.
As Yahya attempted to move to the next subject, the president lingered on whether he enjoys reading, starting into one of his notoriously long-winded responses.
Yahya would have none of that.
“I think you’ve sort of covered everything about that question,” the Maryland middle schooler said, forcing the president to stay on point.
Obama has long had an affinity for comfortable one-on-one interviews, as he has mostly avoided the constraints of the traditional press conference during his two terms in office.
But Obama, and his media acolytes, have had little tolerance for reporters who attempt to steer the conversation. In 2012, the visibly irritated president rebuked then-Daily Caller White House correspondent Neil Munro for attempting to ask the president a question during a press conference — an episode that led many Beltway journalists to call for Munro to be censured or fired, and still enflames the D.C. news establishment.
Part of the reason that the president prefers quiet sit-downs to the often crowded and sometimes hostile presser is that he can “control the length of the interview (short) as well as the length of his responses (long),” according to the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple.
Yahya, it appears, is slightly different from most of the president’s interviewers.
Reporters who happened to be watching the interview as it went on in real-time found themselves deeply impressed with Yahya’s interviewing style.
Whoever this amazing kid moderating Obama discussion at Anacostia library is, he needs his own Sunday talk show STAT
— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) April 30, 2015
(h/t: Time)
