Andrea Mitchell took DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to the woodshed on Friday, noting the President’s failure to face the DC press corps in the last two months. Wasserman-Schultz did her best to deflect, but wasn’t helped by audio from a radio interview in New Mexico in which the President discussed his favorite super powers with a morning zoo crew:
Andrea Mitchell: Doing this kind of radio interview occasionally is fine I’m sure but what about answering the really tough questions that experienced political journalists who cover him all the time or who are members of the White House press corps are going to ask him.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: Uh, Andrea, casual chit-chat aside, the President does do local interviews across the country as he’s traveling around the nation and it’s important for local reporters to be able to get a chance to ask him questions beyond how good the local food is…
There’s 30 more seconds of filibustering from DWS at which point, Mitchell interjects by flatly rejecting Wasserman-Schultz argument:
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz: The DC press corps gets plenty of opportunities to grill President Obama and also to grill Jay Carney, his spokesperson.
Andrea Mitchell: Not lately.
As Mitchell noted in the interview, the morning zoo radio interview follows an interview the President gave to Entertainment Tonight. That wasn’t just an brief interview, Nancy O’Dell was given “unprecedented access” to the campaign for a day and a half. You can watch her hard hitting report here.