Obama Takes Questions From HuffPost And Helen Thomas

President Obama took his first question from Helen Thomas as a press conference tonight -- and from Sam Stein at Huffington Post! Stein asked about torture policy going forward and is anyone above the law? Obama said U.S. would not torture and "no one above the law" and can be prosecuted -- but "generally speaking" he is "interested in looking forward, not backward."

He got another good question at presser tonight: Will Obama overturn the military policy of not allowing media to cover caskets of soldiers coming home from war zones? After all, Joe Biden called for that years ago. Obama replied: "Your question is timely. We got a report that four American servicemen died in Iraq today....With respect to the policy of opening up media, we are in the process of reviewing those policites with the Department of Defense...so I don't want to give you an answer right now until completed." Punt?

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Rapid Ray]

Obama's answer was just what we've all been wanting to hear, but the underlying message may have been missed.

"What other countries have nuclear weapons?"
"I'm not going to speculate.­.."

7 years ago we had a President who "speculated" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and before he got any concrete intelligence, sold his speculation as fact to the Congress and the American public.

Looks like the days of ready, shoot, aim aren't going to repeat themselves with a President who will only speak about matters of national security AFTER he has all the facts.

Helen asked a tough question, but certainly got a better answer than the ones we have been getting for the last 8 years?
In fact, Bush pretty much ignored Helen through his entire term in office.

[philosopherkingtomas]

the most dangerous nuclear powers are south Korea, Israel, Pakistan, and India.....­.

[BenderBot]

Why Israel and India? These two countries are full fledged democracies like USA. They both have laws and court systems. Nuclar (Yes, you just can't get rid of the 8 year of habit in just 20 days) assets in these two countries are controlled by well regulated chain of command. We can relax knowing that neither will cause any harm to the humanity with their "nuclar" arms.

[wagthedog1001]

I agree that Israel and India are dangerous precisely BECAUSE they are allies of the U.S. Either one of them could be the first target of our enemies and retaliate without consultation with us. Neither has shown a great deal of total allegiance to the arrogant super power we appear to be to the rest of the world. Therefore, they are dangerous.

[Darthwave]

I love you Brother President but totally ducked Helen Thomas's question about the middle-east and nuclear weapons. I knew why he did duck the question but I think it is finally time for some truth in this matter. Israel is definitely the only country in middle-east in possession of nuclear weapons. For us to continue to close our eyes and act like they don't is a miserable lie and helps to undermine our foreign policy in the region.

[coco51]

This is a very hard problem to address as a President in with only what 20 days in office. However, I will remind you all that Pakistan AND India do have nuclear warheads which if the Taliban or Al Quaeda got into either country's facilities could be detrimental to not just the US but the Israel as well. It aint too far to send a nuke to either parts of the world.

[djgonebad]

When he called upon Sam Stein, I felt a deep warm feeling come over my body, it was awesome. And to have Helen Thomas get back into the game is relieving; the Repug's tried to sweep her under the rug and it almost worked.

My have times changed in 4-weeks; the GOP better take note, because "OPENNESS" is the biggest part of a good government.

[larry278]

Now that the WAPO wrote it up that HP's Sam Stein was called by Pres Obama at a press conference, will the WAPO's sister publication, SLATE, deign to quote HP in "TP' to give HP recognition as a newspaper of record, the 1st online newspaper of record? Will other self-appointed arbiters of the USA's, de facto, newspapers of record, grudgingly or gladly acknowledge that HP is a newspaper of record? A de facto recognition couldn't do much harm to the self-appointed arbiters's reputations, could it?

[Beantownbadboy]

WHOOPEE!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!! One has-been and one never-was.

[skippypicasso]

And you are...?

[Beantownbadboy]

Something you're not.... an independent thinker. Now, go do your homework.

[AliveInNYC]

Congrats to HuffPo!

Meanwhile, the Washington Post foolishly asks a question about A-Rod and steroids..­.

[rshrink]

I never like hearing a "but" in a comment from someone, when I liked the first statement they made. Obama should have left it that no one is above the law. That needs to hang in the air on its own. So, I say, write the president and support the president or soon we will be looking at Palin and four years of that would probably finish off this country.

[HeartT]

Huffington Post, you're the best. Keep pushing the envelope. Force MSM to come up with goods. Partisanship, in my opinion, is prevalent because MSM reporters are media actors that exploit soap-box conflict as opposed to reporting facts and details that can help Americans make credible decisions.

[DebofMD]

Yay for HuffPost!!! That was awesome to see President Obama call on Sam from "Huffington Post." Very cool. And boy, that is the first press conference I've ever sat down to, really listened to and enjoyed. I learned so much; it's so educational listening to Obama when he explains things. It's great having an intelligent and thoughtful President. I gotta get used to this. lol.

[kshawNCvoter]

congrats sam u were great.....­...look at yall in the big time now. *pours bubbly drinks*

[newdreams]

Great job Sam! You're one of our favorites here - for good reason. Now you're a household name - That being the White House!

[PlaceboStudman]

Chris Matthews (I think that's who it was) who totally slammed bloggers a few days/weeks ago must be spewing pea soup as his head spins around, ever since our president aknowledged bloggers as a legitimate media source!

[johnnynyc]

Help me out here.

My video is a little garbled.

Was the question, "Mr. President can you give the stock answer about torture you gave last week? It would be helpful if you included the phrases "no one above the law" and "interested in looking forward, not backward" just like you did then"?

[Kevbo68]

Strangely, after Obama responded to Sam, the words "This comment awaiting approval" came up at the bottom of my TV.

[CR46]

Cute :)

[kshawNCvoter]

lol...irl

[Outofnowhere]

Heh heh!

[The Impartial]

FROM WHOM?

[HurryUp1212009]

Did Obama snub "Fixed" News?
I sure hope so.

[cmeans29]

No. Obama called Major Garrett.

[buckbuck11]

Who, I believe asked the off-the-wall question about something Joe Biden said.....n­ow there's news you can use!