Stifled: Question about Obama getting snubbed
Press secretary doesn't allow inquiry about Walesa's decision
May 31, 2011
wnd.com
The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, today declined to allow a question about a public snubbing President Obama took in Europe.
Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, and the second-most senior reporter on the beat, had wanted to ask about a decision by former Polish president and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa to decline a meeting with Obama.
At the first daily news briefing since Obama's return from Europe, Carney allowed NPR to ask eight questions, NBC 6, the Wall Street Journal 5 and ABC, CNN, CBS Radio and the New York Times four each.
But Kinsolving was refused permission to ask. He had wanted to ask, "London's Daily Mail reported: Embarrassing snub for Obama, as Polish hero Walesa skips meeting for biblical festival."
"Does the president regard this as a snub or not?" he had prepared to ask.
The newspaper report said Walesa had been invited by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski to meet with political figures – and Obama – in Warsaw. Walesa, according to the report, "snubbed" the invitation.
"It's difficult to tell journalists what you'd like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won't tell him, I won't meet him, it doesn't suit me," Walesa said, according to the report.
The report said Walesa said he preferred to travel to Italy for a biblical festival, "and that he had no interest in a meeting that would amount to little more than a photo-op."
A second question prepared by Kinsolving involved an evaluation of Carney's performance by former White House |
