Obama to Hold Emergency Press Conference

When I say "emergency" I mean this wasn't exactly planned. The President knows he's slipping and tomorrow's infommercial might not be enough to rally support for more big spending. So he's going to loosen the lid today:

President Barack Obama will throw his weight behind legislative bids to reform healthcare and cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions on Tuesday in his fourth White House press conference since taking office.

Obama, who has focused his first five months as president on trying to end the recession, is likely to discuss his plans to create jobs and stem unemployment, which economists expect will hit 10 percent in coming months.

The presser starts at 12:30 Eastern. Obama is expected to talk for a bit and then answer questions for an hour.

Here's what I expect we'll see:

1. "Healthcare is a crisis."
2. "Global climate change is a crisis."
3. "We must reach out to Iran, but as I said last week I support peaceful protests and condemn violence."
4. Teleprompter.

Note that he didn't actually say #3 last week--not 'til Saturday, anyway--but he's very fond of re-writing his own speeches. As for the teleprompter, at his last presser he was mighty embarrassed to be caught using one not just for the speech, but also to answer questions. Will he be brave enough to go without his binkie?

Stick with the HQ, we'll have more later.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 08:25 AM

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