Enchanted? Really.... enchanted? Twitter reacts...
President Obama takes a moment to think about how he's going to answer the weird "enchantment" question by the New York Times.
NEWSCOM
That's the best question the New York Times could come up with? At a presidential press conference?
Really?
Last month it was the Ed Henry follow-up question that irked President Obama that got people talking following the press conference.
Tonight, it appeared to be a weird four part question from New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny that is sparking a lot of interest.
Enchanted
Zeleny stumped the president. Not because it was brilliantly crafted or he was able to secure damning evidence of something awry in the Obama administration.
He asked the president what "enchanted" him the most about his first 100 days in office. (He asked him what surprised, troubled and humbled him too -- but those questions make sense).
To put it into perspective, let's look at the definition of enchanted:
Enchant: to subject to magical influence; bewitch: fairytales about witches who enchant handsome princes and beautiful maidens.
Confused
Obama rightly seemed confused by the question. Who wouldn't be. Despite the weirdness of it all, Obama took a first stab at it.
"Enchanted? Enchanted. I -- I will -- I will tell you that, when I -- when I meet our servicemen and -women, enchanted's probably not the word I would use," he said to much laughter.
Then he followed it up in about the best way he could.
"But, I am so profoundly impressed and grateful to them for what they do," he said. They're really good at their job. They are willing to make extraordinary sacrifices on our behalf. They do so without complaint. They are fiercely loyal to this country. And, you know, the more I interact with our -- our servicemen and - women, from the top brass down to the lowliest private, I -- I'm just-- I'm grateful to them."
Support him or not, you gotta hand it to the president for answering something so weird, first with laughter and then turning it into an opportunity to praise the troops.
How did those in the Twitterverse react to the question?
klww: Prexy was asked: What has enchanted you about the past 100 days? Seriously?!?! I thought the Miss USA Pageant was *last* week!
MarchOfFolly: Gritty investigative press corps asked what most "enchanted" him about the WhiteHouse. THAT was worth the journalism school tuition!
briancline: Poor NYT reporter will never live down the "enchanted" question to Obama. CNN is making jokes already.
romioliverio: Not sure what classifies most as lame moment of Obama press conf: NYT using word "enchanted" in fluff qn, or CNN's (live) grading event.
killingdance: lmao our president is a disney princess. he's "enchanted"
nilay79: ...that guy will never get invited back to another White House press conference. yes, the "enchanted" guy
CourtneyGH: Obama was smooth tonight. But hopefully this was 1st & last time "enchanted" will ever be uttered in a prez press conference...
Finally, another member of the White House press corps had fun with the answer too
markknoller: On the lighter side, we found out what surprised, troubled, enchanted and humbled Obama during the last hundred days.
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