Ever since he quit smoking, President Obama has been staving off nicotine cravings by reaching for celery sticks.
He thinks Americans who help Mexican drug cartels should be “thrown in jail.”
And he has an open invitation to enjoy lemon martinis in Miami.
These are just a few of the exclusive news nuggets to emerge from the White House in recent days.
The new details were not disclosed by the army of White House reporters employed by the country’s biggest news media organizations to track Obama’s every move and word.
Instead, as Obama keeps the White House press corps at a distance, he has sat for more than a dozen interviews with their colleagues from local TV stations — with unpredictable and sometimes illuminating results.
One Miami reporter Obama recently invited to the White House was still so nervous when the interview was over that she stood to leave before removing the wired microphone from her lapel. Obama called out to stop her. “We don’t want a wardrobe malfunction,” he said.
An anchor from the ABC affiliate in Cincinnati swiped paper towels embossed with the presidential seal from a White House bathroom, “just to prove that I really was there.” Of course, she had additional proof of her visit: an interview with the president that aired on television. Nonetheless, she held up the towels for the camera in a live shot from the White House lawn.
A veteran anchor from Philadelphia’s ABC station used the opportunity to grill an irritated-sounding Obama on the hot topic of the day, telling the president his statements on U.S. military action in Libya had been confusing.
Obama has made such encounters with local news stations a staple of his communications strategy. Since December, White House aides have handpicked 13 stations, all in key cities in presidential battleground states, to reward with the biggest “get” in the TV news business: a one-on-one White House interview with the president. An additional interview was granted to Hearst Television’s Washington bureau, which serves more than two dozen local stations across the country.
Seven-minute allotment
Each reporter is granted seven minutes with the commander in chief.
In March alone, Obama has welcomed interviewers from Charlotte, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque and Norfolk. Before that, invitees came from Richmond, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Tampa, Denver, Des Moines and Columbus. And aides say more are coming soon.
In some cases, Obama had a message he wanted to send directly to the people in particular states. It was during a Feb. 16 interview with the Milwaukee station that the public first learned of Obama’s view that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was launching an “assault” on public-sector unions.
He told the Miami reporter that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) was “wrong” to cancel plans for a federally backed high-speed train in the state.
The Pittsburgh and Philadelphia stations made news when Obama told them that state lawmakers should be leery of adopting Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed education cuts.
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