“I DON’T WANT YOU TO WASTE YOUR QUESTION.”
UPDATE: Rick Moran: Rahm Emanuel still won’t come out of his house.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Rahm Emanuel on a milk carton.
MORE: Chuck Simmins emails: “Rahm Emanuel is wherever Joe Biden is. Barry Obama has a home for those people. Suspect JFK and Elvis are also there.”
During today’s press conference, President-elect Baracj Obama brushed off a question from Chicago Tribune reporter John McCormick about the Blagojevich scandal, and what interaction any advisers had with the Illinois governor.
“I don’t want you to waste your question,” Obama said.
McCormick asked another Blago-related question, and Obama said he wouldn’t confirm a report in the Tribune from this weekend. Obama also said that the U.S. attorney’s office asked his team to withhold an internal review until next week.
After a few attempts, the reporter finally followed up by asking who had the better jump shot: Obama or incoming education secretary Arne Duncan?
The interaction with McCormick stood out from previous meetings with the press. And speaking about the exchange on MSNBC shortly after, NBC Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker said that reporters have not been aggressive enough during Obama’s post-election pressers.
“Our job is to hold him to account,” Whitaker said, adding that he thinks “we’re going to have to get tougher.”
We’ll see if that happens.