HuffPost's Nico Pitney Asks Question About Iran At White House Press Conference (VIDEO)

President Obama fielded a question at his press conference Tuesday from Huffpost Senior News Editor Nico Pitney. Pitney's question, which was sent to him from Iran, was: "Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad, and if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there isn't that a betrayal of what the demonstrators there are working for?"

Watch the President's response:

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After the press conference, Pitney posted the following message on the Iran liveblog discussing how the question came about:

I just returned from President Obama's press conference, where I was able to ask a question directly on behalf of an Iranian. I can't emphasize enough how grateful I am for all the submissions I received -- both from contacts I've been communicating with for several days, and from many others via email and Facebook and the Farsi-language social networking site Balatarin.

As I tried to say at the press conference, all of the Iranians who are communicating online do so at great risk. It was very courageous of them and I hope the question I ended up choosing did them some justice.

Also, apologies for the light posting today, which will probably continue through the evening. We'll be back at full speed tomorrow.

A few words about how this came about for those who are curious: as readers know, I've spent a lot of time writing and debating about the President's reaction to the events in Iran. Last night, after emailing with a few people about Obama's press conference and what he might
say, I decided to throw it open to our readers. I received a call from White House staff saying they had seen what I'd written and thought the President might be interested in receiving a question directly from an Iranian.

The White House didn't guarantee that I would be able to ask a question. But I decided that if there was even a chance, I should try to reach out to as many Iranians as possible. With the invaluable help from some readers -- Chas, Chuck, and other Iranian Americans I wish I could name because they deserve the credit -- I was able to post a message in Farsi on Twitter and have my request for questions posted late last night on Balatarin. I ended up choosing the question I did because it was one of the consensus questions that many people had suggested.

Thanks also to the White House staff. They were up front about not being able to assure that a question would be asked, they never asked what the question would be, and they helped me move through the very packed briefing room when I showed up a bit late (sorry to the many
toes I stepped on getting through).

Comments

[mtracy9]

05:38 PM on 06/28/2009

Along with Iran, we in the United States need to have international observers monitoring our elections. A sizable number of Americans regard the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 as illegitimate, with huge voting irregularities in Florida and Ohio that handed these elections to G.W. Bush by slim margins.

[bertha112]

12:24 AM on 06/25/2009

Was this staged? Hell Yeah! The President as much as admitted in is introduction of Nico. He basically told the entire press corps (and everyone watching) that..hey, a blogger at HuffPo had been following the Iranian situation (obviously more closely that the MSM who totally missed that the President’s opening statement was consistent with his previous statements on the Iranian situation….but I digress), and many Iranians had posed questions and that maybe in this era of technology there was a question that the President could answer. .. maybe that would be novel and precedent setting. What part of that initial exchange did Faux News, the Washington Boast, CNNnnzzzzzzzzzzzz, and other MSM miss?

Was the question staged? Hell No! I too thought that this would be a “timid” and/or “weak” question, something like “Mr. President, do you support the dissenters who are taking to the streets of Iran?” But no, he (Nico), pulled one from the bottom of the hat (sorta like a hat trick), and I even think the President himself was a little unprepared for that one. “Way to go Nico!”

It indeed was a tougher and more thoughtful question than those from the MSM, who pretty much were trying to capture an “in your face” moment with their juvenile and confrontational style of questioning. Too bad the press couldn’t locate their balls six years ago when the Bush Administration had them scared “_hitless” (rhymes with witless).

[emlr]

10:02 AM on 06/24/2009

I worked hard and sent money I couldn't afford to help Obama get elected. I still think he is the best we've had for a long, long while.

But having said that ...he did not answer Nico's questions about what it would take for him to accept the election of Ahmadinajad and if he accepted it would it be a betrayal of the Iranian people. All he spoke of was the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the election and it was up to the Iranian people to decide their fate. All of which I agree with but it didn't answer the questions.

I did not ask the question, it came from Iranians in Iran. ("I ended up choosing the question I did because it was one of the consensus questions that many people had suggested."Nico)

I would like to know if those people felt like their question was answered.

[SharpDressedMan]

12:16 PM on 06/24/2009

In order to better understand your comment, please tell us what President Obama should have said in response to Nico's question.

[yozampj]

03:17 PM on 06/24/2009

1. I'm quite sure Iranians do not feel the question was answered.
2. To expect the president to answer that particular question is naive. There would be far reaching implications to the president's answer. This is not a question he should answer now.
3. The president should have anticipated that he'd get a question he shouldn't answer -- he may have realized it and decided to call on Nico anyway.
4. He called on Nico most likely as a form of recognition for his great coverage of the situation, and not so much to answer his question.
5. Kudos to the president for not planting a question or censoring the question in advance.

And . . . let's talk about the disrespectful tone of the Fox guy asking "What took you so long?" It wasn't just the question, it was his tone. I'm sure Obama would have liked to be able to slap him.

[lady49]

10:01 AM on 06/24/2009

President Obama was interested in a question from an Iranian going through their struggle.
He did NOT ask for a "paraphrased-hypothetical" from Nico.
President Obama wil NOT speculate about anything and will certainly NOT SAY anything to jeopardize their safety.

[Spesabsquemetu]

08:28 AM on 06/24/2009

Way to go, Nico! Keep asking the questions, and putting truth forward along with insightful, critical thinking.

The president is handling the Iranian situation with seasoned wisdom and thoughtful reserve.
When one considers what the president is dealing with, it is incomprehensible that certain members of the GOP would be so consumed with themselves and political posturing, as to use THIS TIME to provoke political games particularly after today's headline coming from Iran. Way to go, GOP blockheads. Undermine your president, and provoke an escalation in the rhetoric, where women are being gunned down on the street - for freedom.

[shellshock30]

12:22 AM on 06/24/2009

It was answered....this is a delicate situation. You can't just say there will be grave consequences if they don't stop the violence without backing it up.....but with what?...sanctions?....these will only hurt the people it's meant to help.

emlr, Noespuede...what do you want the prez to say?....if they don't stop the violence we will send in troops and overthrow the government?...maybe slam dunk some WMD?.....been there, done that. You 2 however are more than welcome to hop on a plane and try overthrowing them yourselves...good luck with that. I'll be right here waiting for our President to watch how things play out before responding...it's called chess gentlemen not craps.

[yert33]

10:41 PM on 06/23/2009

Thanks, Nico. Very good work.

[Magee]

10:32 PM on 06/23/2009

It's upsetting to see the people of Iran being brutalized. Thanks Nico for finding a way to give them a voice. I think President Obama answered the question in the only way possible.

[SharpDressedMan]

12:13 PM on 06/24/2009

Ditto.

[SurrealPumpkin]

10:12 PM on 06/23/2009

By the way, congrats Nico on having a White House following.

[SurrealPumpkin]

10:01 PM on 06/23/2009

The fact that he called on Nico to ask the question and specified that it was from an Iranian answers the question.

He also reiterated how stupid the Achmadinajad contingent is being (more gracefully) and called on the Iranian government to serve the will of the people.

That's all he will or should say.

[EllaMae]

09:58 PM on 06/23/2009

Wow. Thank you Nico for all the hard and valuable work you've been doing. I sure would like to know what you thought of the president's answer. I think it isso telling that the White House contacted you and wanted a question from an Iranian. And the president's opinion, personally, is clear about what is happening in Iran in spite of officially staying out of the situation.l

I think he did answer the question. He said what happens with election results depends upon the Iranian people. Clearly if the Iranian people ended up accepting, voluntarily, the current results he would accept hem also. If the people do not, he will not.

[emlr]

08:51 PM on 06/23/2009

The president never answered Nico's questions.

[dst1]

10:40 PM on 06/23/2009

Clean out your ears.

[Nosepuede]

11:14 PM on 06/23/2009

He is absolutely right it was not answered.

[harriscrl3]

09:44 AM on 06/24/2009

I actually thought the question was silly and no offense to Nico. We recognize Communist countries like China with Tiannamen square. We recognize Dictators who have used force upon their people to silence opposition. Heck we even have diplomatic relations with some of them. We dont have any with Iran first of all it would be hypocritical of us to say we wont recognize the Iranian President when we have recognized WORSE.

Who are we to decide what's fair election. The supreme Court CHOSE our President in 2000 and the world recognize him.

Carol

[TwistedNibbler]

03:12 AM on 06/25/2009

Silly is a little strong, but the question was loaded to say the least.

However, it was loaded in favor of the Public (that of Iran in this case) and that is the opposite of what we are used to seeing in our media coverage.

We have forgotten that an answer does not always fulfill the specific data requested in the question. The purpose of a question is to gather information, and sometimes we do not find the information we sought; rather, something wholly other. We cannot let our expectations cloud the answer received.

No, the specific issue addressed in the question was not answered, but anyone who didn't hear the President's support of the Iranian public in their struggle for freedom is simply trying to add their own spin to an already complex answer, confuse those following them, and chances are they work for Faux News.