Obama Admits War on Terror Will Never End

Follow up question: “What about Obamacare?”

“We are not going to completely eliminate terrorism. What we can do is to weaken it and to strengthen our partnerships in such a way that it does not pose the kind of horrible threat that we saw on 9/11.”

So, naturally, the follow-up questions were about Obamacare and Benghazi. Wait, what?

As frustrated and angry about the NSA’s spying as I am, I can’t actually put the blame for this change of subject on Obama. This was the press corps’ fault. They decided to change the subject, and instead of focusing on the point of the press conference, which was about 15 minutes of Obama making vague promises for reform surrounding the NSA’s practices, they decided to use it as a platform to get whatever talking point they wanted for their nightly newscast and weekly agenda.

Here’s some questions they should have asked:

“Mr. President, are you claiming we were ineffective before the patriot act at preventing terrorist attacks?”

“Mr. President, if you believe these checks and balances are important for preventing abuses, why not reveal these checks and balances for the public to review and decide upon?”

“Mr. President, why not release a full list of how exactly the NSA’s tracking foiled terror attacks, or at least a list of terror attacks that were foiled by the NSA’s tracking?”

And, most importantly: “Mr. President, we wouldn’t be having this press conference without Snowden’s leaks. You wouldn’t be talking about reform without Snowden’s leaks. He’s clearly working on the side of the people against potential government abuse. So why not protect and/or pardon him?”

Fact of the matter is, thinking on your feet is going away in this day and age of reporting. You got into that room with a preset question given to you by your boss, and if you don’t ask it, they’ll find someone else who will. The studio and network you’re working for wants their own sound bite to work with just as soon as the President is finished responding.

It’s time for the media to be on our side again, like the Washington Post or The Guardian. It’s time to demand that the media ask the right questions, rather than boilerplate soundbite fuel. It’s time to hold our representatives accountable.

It’s time to ask ourselves: “If the government isn’t doing anything wrong, what do they have to hide?”