Bush sat down with reporter Mike Allen yesterday for a Politico/Yahoo interview, billed as the first for a president talking to an online audience. Probably the biggest news in the discussion was Bush’s bizarre comment about giving up golf during the war “to be in solidarity” with grieving families.
I neglected, however, to read the entire transcript of the interview, and notice that the questions were kind of bizarre, too.
Dan Froomkin asked, “Has there ever been a more moronic interview of a president of the United States than the one conducted yesterday by Mike Allen?” After seeing that, I couldn’t imagine what would draw such a sharp rebuke. Allen, after all, was a White House correspondent for the Washington Post and Time magazine, so he presumably knows how to conduct an interview with the president that isn’t “moronic.”
So, I read the transcript. Froomkin has a point. The first seven questions — seven — were about Jenna Bush’s wedding.
OK, I thought, Allen is just lulling the president into a false sense of security. Let him get comfortable talking about his daughter’s wedding, and then put him on the hot seat.
Or not. Froomkin pulled together this non-wedding-related list of Allen’s questions:
“Mr. President, I know you’re going to hate this, but I’m hoping that we may twist your arm and talk about baseball for just a moment. (Laughter.) Mr. President, you’re a Major League Baseball team owner again. Everyone is a free agent. You have a Yankees-like wallet. Who is your first position player? Who’s your pitcher?”
“Now, Mr. President, you and the First Lady appeared on American Idol’s charity show, ‘Idol Gives Back.’ And I wonder who do you think is going to win? Syesha, David Cook, or David Archuleta?”
“All right. Mr. President, who does the better impression, Will Ferrell of you, or Dana Carvey of your father?”
“And speaking of impressions, our friend, Robert Draper, author of ‘Dead Certain,’ said you do a great impression of Dr. Evil from ‘Austin Powers’.”
Allen also asked Bush, “Do you feel that you were misled on Iraq?” That’s not bad at all — except it was a question that came from a Politico reader.
What’s more, Shakesville’s Wolfum noted that Allen was even willing to help Bush out on an uncomfortable subject.
Allen: Mr. President, the one thing we don’t see in here is a computer, and we know that you went cold turkey off email for security reasons. What are you looking forward to when you finally get your computer back?
Bush: Emailing to my buddies. I can remember as governor I stayed in touch with all kinds of people around the country, firing off emails at all times of the day to stay in touch with my pals. One of the things that I will have ended my public service time with is a group of friends, a lot of friends. And I want to stay in touch with them and there’s no better way to communicate with them than through email.
That’s fine, except the question is based on a faulty premise. Allen gave Bush a pass on why he doesn’t use email, saying he has “security reasons.” But that’s not the case at all. In fact, Bush never even cited “security” as an excuse.
The president, rather, actually said, “You know, I don’t email, however. And there’s a reason. I don’t want you reading my personal stuff. There has got to be a certain sense of privacy…. And so I’ve made — I’ve made an easy decision there. I just don’t do it. Which is sad, really, when you think about it.”
In other words, Bush wants to use email like everyone else, but is afraid of subpoenas, FOIA, and the Presidential Records Act. Mike Allen, instead of pressing him on this, creates an excuse for the president that even Bush hadn’t come up with.
Bush doesn’t do too many exclusive interviews. This seems like a wasted opportunity.