Sanuk wrote:
His immediate predecessor barely held any, and he holds way too many. There has to be a happy medium somewhere in between.
In his first year of office Obama had 7 press conferences and Trump had 1.
Also in the first year, Obama gave 187 interviews and Trump gave 95.
Trump tends to hold a lot of quick Q&A where he can of course control who asks questions and he can also respond superficially without going into any policy depth, something he has mastered.
I realize you can't do press conferences and interviews while golfing which can explain why Trump hasn't done as many but to suggest Obama wasn't out in front of the public as often as Trump just doesn't relate to the facts.
Did you pull that data for Barack Obama from the CNN analysis? From Newsweek (7/21/17):
Though Trump has only given one solo news conference since taking office,
as CNN pointed out Monday, data from the American Presidency Project show that he participated in 11 joint press events through Thursday. That gives Trump an average of 2 news conferences per month, compared to Obama's 1.71 monthly average throughout his term."
It depends on how the term "news conference" ("press conference") is defined, I guess. I don't remember Mr. Obama having nearly the press availability that this fellow has and Major Garrett, the CBS News chief White House correspondent, has remarked that the current occupant of the Oval Office is far more accessible than Barack Obama was. I kind of agree. I fact, I'd say he just can't stay away from press availability opportunities, as you noted. The man simply can't, and won't, SHUT THE HELL UP. Which, at this point, I fervently wish he'd do posthaste.
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."