Ed Henry Was Epic Jerk At Obama Presser For Right Reason: Attention
During last night's presidential press conference, CNN's Ed Henry hurled an incoherent barrage of mostly pointless/redundant questions at Barack Obama, including one randomly involving Obama's daughters. Why? Henry helpfully posted his astonishing explanation.
The White House correspondent writes in a lengthy, melodramatic recap that he started out nervous, about doing his job. "Millions were watching... you might get flustered and screw up."
But Henry had received Jedi training from sage journalism master Wolf Blitzer just this past weekend. And he was determined to stick with the same strategy that worked for him last time around, to BECOME the story and
make news on something unexpected (I won't tell you which topics I was working on cause it would ruin the surprise for a future presser or interview with the president).
It's so kind of Henry to preserve for his readers the future delight of hearing his piercing, unexpected questions FRESH at the next televised White House press conference.
Anyway, Henry could tell his questioning got under the president's skin. Win! Time to press the advantage with a followup.
So I waited patiently and then decided to pounce with a sharp follow-up. From just a few feet away, I could see in his body language that the normally calm and cool president was perturbed.
Then of course came the now-famous Obama rebuke. The president "did slap me down a bit," Henry concedes, by explaining that the White House delayed saying anything about the AIG bonuses "because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak." BURN.
But Ed Henry doesn't mind, because "I was doing my job" — the job of "making news on something unexpected" and crucial, like calling the president an outrage coward who hates his daughters. At this rate he'll have his own annoying CNN show in no time.