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Obama almost choked on "my dear friend, Hillary Clinton," but he made it through. The team's remarks were short and understated, with Hillary taking more time than the others.
The questions from the press have been refreshingly skeptical: "Does India have the same right to attack inside Pakistan on actionable intelligence that you endorsed for the U.S. in the primaries?" "Will you actually get all the troops out of Iraq 16 months from now?" "You repeatedly belittled Hillary's foreign-policy creds during the primaries. Explain why you think she's qualified now."
That last question made him rather testy, as he's not used to being questioned aggressively about past conflicting statements. "I know you in the press like to have fun digging up quotes, things thrown around during the heat of the primary," he said, as the reporter defended his question. "I know, and you're having fun, and that's fine." He went on to say he's consistently admired Hillary Clinton. He also refused to dish any dirt on how he and Hillary came together, finishing the story with, "That's all you're gonna get." He's a tad too testy for a guy who hasn't even taken office yet.
Obama demurred on what kind of action might be taken against Pakistan if there was indeed a connection between Pakistan and the Mumbai terrorists, but said he'd talked to both Indian and Pakistani leaders and expected full cooperation from Pakistan.
He fell back on his usual dissembling on Iraq, when asked about withdrawal: "Now, remember what I said consistently during the campaign, and you were there for most of it. I said we'd have all combat troops out of Iraq in 16 months, and that there would likely remain a residual force there." He's clearly squeaking the door open on staying in Iraq, both with rhetoric and appointments (Jim Jones as National Security Adviser instead of Susan Rice.)
The normally impeccable stagers of the Obama team overlooked the height difference between Obama and the women he's appointing to his team. Hillary had to pull down the microphones to keep them from blocking her face, which she handled smoothly. Susan Rice, even shorter than Hillary, spoke while obstructed by the microphones. More blatant misogyny from Obama if you ask me.
Finally, they let Joe Biden speak again, finally. I wonder how long he lobbied and whined to earn that spot at the end of this presser. Part of the deal was clearly that he not mention Scranton.
Hillary speaks, below the fold:
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