CURL: Obama dominates news media with full-court press

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By Joseph Curl POLITICAL THEATER

Although the White House basketball court is still under construction, President Obama on Tuesday got in a quick game of hoops, throwing some sharp elbows, batting down weak shots and eventually falling back into a one-man, four-corners defense to run out the clock.

His opponents, the White House press corps, looked at times like the Washington Generals, known for their long-running losing streak against the invincible Harlem Globetrotters. The president put on a clinic of fancy dribbling just like Curly Neal, and even played Meadowlark Lemon to the Huffington Post's Nico Pitney, when he asked the Internet site "reporter" to lob up an alley-oop question so he could slam-dunk the answer.

"Nico, I know you, and all across the Internet, we've been seeing a lot of reports coming out of Iran," Mr. Obama said from the podium. "I know there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. Do you have a question?"

"Yes, I did," said Mr. Pitney, who, according CBS News' Mark Knoller, said the White House called him Tuesday morning and invited him to ask an Iran question at the news conference.

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Many in the hard-pressed press corps played along throughout the hourlong show, turning the ball over again and again - "accidentally," of course.

"I answered your question, which is that we don't yet know how this is going to play out. OK?" Mr. Obama said dismissively to NBC News' Chuck Todd, who had asked an open-ended query on the "consequences" for Iran after its disputed election.

Reporter Macarena Vidal of the Spanish news service EFE all but handed the hoopster-in-chief the ball when she brought up democracy efforts in Latin America. "Have you noticed any particular progress in these two months?" Another presidential tomahawk dunk.

Several times, the president simply ignored the question. When USA Today's David Jackson asked a specific question about health care, Mr. Obama pulled back in a delay offense: "Well, let's talk first of all about health care reform more broadly," he said, before expounding at clock-eating length about generalities.

When Mr. Obama wasn't slashing through the defense for an easy layup, he was swinging elbows, backing reporters off.