IS THE PRESS GETTING TOUGHER ON OBAMA? - AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  A study of yesterday's presidential news conference does show a toughening in reporters' attitudes that we haven't seen before.  Michael Goodwin of The New York Daily News comments on what we hope is a permanent change:

Yesterday, the White House press corps called the end of the Obama honeymoon.

By peppering the President with forceful questions on Iran and other big topics and by challenging some of his slippery answers, reporters captured the changing tone in the country. Like the end of a real honeymoon, blind infatuation is giving way to a more accurate view of reality.

The reality is that polls show rising doubt about President Obama's handling of the economy and wide disapproval about exploding deficits. The reality is that even many Democrats worry the White House health plan is messy and unaffordable. The reality is that ranks of independents who voted for him find Obama far more liberal than they expected.

It's also true that many news organizations have embarrassed themselves with fawning Obama coverage and are the subject of growing ridicule, including from Obama himself.

Goodwin writes of Obama's missed chances at the press conference:

He blew another chance when a reporter asked whether criticism by Sen. John McCain and other Republicans had forced the tougher stance. "What do you think?" he said, getting defensive and saying, "Only I am the President of the United States."

It's a bad habit, a sign of weakness, to pull rank, yet this White House does it repeatedly. Obama brushed back calls for changes in stimulus spending by saying, "I won," and his press secretary said, "We won," just the other day to a question.

We wrote about that here last night.  It continues what I've characterized as the adolescent quality of this administration.

Finally...

...voters are getting significantly more skeptical about the President. Iran added to the doubts.

The press corps gets it. For Obama, the hard part begins now.

COMMENT:  Let's finally see what he's made of.  The Iran crisis is far from over.  We are still tracking a North Korean ship believed to be carrying illegal materials.  The economy continues weak, with no sign the stimulus package is having any effect. 

A cautionary note, though:  The toughness of reporters at a news conference does not automatically translate into toughness by their editors back home.  Don't be shocked if you see the honeymoon continue a bit on the editorial pages, especially those in Washington, New York, and Boston.

June 24, 2009