'BELLYACHING': White House: Business Travelers Spurred FAA Fix

By Matthew Rocco

Published April 26, 2013

FOXBusiness

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The White House accused business travelers of “bellyaching” over flight delays caused this week by furloughs at the Federal Aviation Administration, suggesting Congress was prioritizing them over other fliers.

The House passed a bill early Friday afternoon to give the Transportation Department budget flexibility to limit furloughs for air-traffic controllers. The legislation was approved by the Senate on Thursday night, and the White House has indicated President Barack Obama will sign it.

The FAA, which is administered by the Transportation Department, has said furloughs could not be avoided under the government spending cuts that kicked in last month. Lawmakers countered by saying the agency could find other areas, such as consulting and grant programs, to make cuts.

During a briefing at the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney said Congress acted on the plan out of self-interest and to quell complaints from business travelers.

“How is it fair these kids on Head Start get cuts, Defense Department cuts get tough love, but when business travelers [are] bellyaching, they get fast legislation,” Carney told reporters.

“You could’ve thrown in members of Congress who need flights home, also,” he added. “Delays are not just a problem for business travelers but many Americans.”

Rep. Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican who is Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said the legislation passed Friday would “force a stop to these needless furloughs.”

“Although the FAA already had the necessary flexibility to implement the sequester in a responsible manner, this legislation ensures beyond a shadow of a doubt that the agency now has more than enough capacity to end air traffic controller furloughs, stop the pain for the traveling public, and protect the economy,” Rep. Shuster said in a statement.

Follow Matthew Rocco on Twitter @MatthewRocco

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ADVANCE WARNING: White House Knew FiskerWas Steering Off Course

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  Nov. 18, 2010: In this file photo, Fisker Automotive's Fisker Karma, a sports luxury plug-in hybrid car, sits on display at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles.AP

WASHINGTON –  Newly released documents show that the Obama administration was warned as early as 2010 that electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. was not meeting milestones set up for a half-billion dollar government loan, nearly a year before U.S. officials froze the loan after questions were raised about the company's statements.

An Energy Department official said in a June 2010 email that Fisker's bid to draw on the federal loan may be jeopardized for failure to meet goals established by the Energy Department.

Despite that warning, Fisker continued to receive money until June 2011, when the DOE halted further funding. The agency did so after Fisker presented new information that called into question whether key milestones -- including launch of the company's signature, $100,000 Karma hybrid -- had been achieved, according to a credit report prepared by the Energy Department.

The December 2011 credit report said "DOE staff asked questions about the delays" in the launch of the Karma "and received varied and incomplete explanations," leading to the suspension of the loan. Fisker had received a total of $192 million of the $529 million loan before it was suspended.

In the June 2010 email, Sandra Claghorn, an official in DOE's loan program office, had written that Fisker "may be in limbo due to a lack of compliance with financial covenants" set up by the Energy Department to protect taxpayers in the event of default. Another document, from April 2010, listed milestones that Fisker had not yet met.

Aoife McCarthy, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department, said the June 2010 email was taken out of context.

"The document shows that one person at a meeting discussed the possibility that Fisker might not meet a financial commitment" required by the Energy Department, McCarthy said in an email late Tuesday. DOE received the needed certification five days later and subsequently made the loan payment, she said.

The Associated Press obtained the Fisker documents ahead of a House hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the federal loan to the troubled car maker, which has laid off three-fourths of its workers amid continuing financial and production problems.

The potential loss of $171 million would be largest loss of federal loan money since the 2011 failure of solar panel maker Solyndra, which declared bankruptcy and laid off all its workers after receiving a $528 million loan from the Energy Department.

The Energy Department seized $21 million from Fisker this month as it continued to seek repayment from the car maker for the 2009 loan. A payment from Fisker was due Monday, but was not made, a DOE official said.

Henrik Fisker, the company's namesake and founder, was scheduled to testify at Wednesday's hearing. Fisker, who was forced out as CEO as the company's troubles mounted, said in prepared testimony that he remained proud of the company's "cutting edge technology," which he said could "pave the way for a new generation of American car manufacturing."

Fisker disputed claims by some critics that the Anaheim, Calif.-based company needed the federal loan to survive. Fisker said a high-ranking Energy Department official approached him in 2008 and asked him to apply for the loan, which is intended to boost electric cars and other advanced vehicles.

"At that time, we already had significant financial backing from private investors," Fisker said in the prepared testimony. In all, the company received more than $1 billion in private financing, he said.

The company met initial milestones set up by the Energy Department before informing the department that it would not meet future goals on time, Fisker said. He denied that any political influence was used to obtain the loan or in negotiations over its terms.

"I am not aware and do not believe that any improper political influence was used in connection with the company's loan application or subsequent negotiations with the Department of Energy," Fisker said.

Vice President Joe Biden announced in late 2009 that Fisker would reopen a shuttered former General Motors factory in Wilmington, Del., to produce plug-in, electric hybrid vehicles. The plant was never completed and never produced any cars.

Fisker said the company was hurt badly by the 2008 recession and by the bankruptcy of A123 Systems, a Massachusetts company hired by Fisker to make batteries for the Karma. A bankruptcy judge granted Fisker $15 million in a claim against A123 for breach of warranty, a fraction of Fisker's initial claim.

Fisker has not built a vehicle since last summer and has failed to secure a buyer as its cash reserves have dwindled.

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White House Believes Deadly Boston Marathon Bombing 'An Act of Terror'

DEVELOPING: Multiple casualties are reported after at least two explosions rocked the area near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, according to the Boston Herald. 

Witnesses reportedly heard booms that sounded like two claps of thunder near the finish line inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel. 

The explosions occurred just before 3 p.m. Video of the scene showed a number of emergency crews in the area tending to victims and blood on the ground near the finish line. 

"I saw two explosions. The first one was beyond the finish line. I heard a loud bang and I saw smoke rising," Boston Herald reporter Chris Cassidy, who was running in the marathon, told the newspaper. "I kept running and I heard behind me a loud bang. It looked like it was in a trash can or something...There are people who have been hit with debris, people with bloody foreheads.”

A photographer with Fox affiliate WFXT reported seeing a number of victims with lost limbs.

Competitors and race organizers were crying as they fled the chaos. Bloody spectators were being carried to the medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners.

"There are a lot of people down," said one man, whose bib No. 17528 identified him as Frank Deruyter of North Carolina. He was not injured, but marathon workers were carrying one woman, who did not appear to be a runner, to the medical area as blood gushed from her leg. A Boston police officer was wheeled from the course with a leg injury that was bleeding.

About three hours after the winners crossed the line, there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another thunderous explosion could be heard a few seconds later.

Runner Laura McLean of Toronto said she heard two explosions outside the medical tent.

"There are people who are really, really bloody," McLean said. "They were pulling them into the medical tent."

Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race.  "I was expecting my husband any minute," she said. "I don't know what this building is ... it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don't know what it was. I just ducked."

Click for more from MyFoxBoston.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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White House celebrates Memphis soul music with concert

WASHINGTON –  A White House celebration Tuesday night of Memphis soul music is an affirmation of the decades of hard work that went into making it a classic American music sound, said some of the artists tapped to perform.

"I'm proud to do this," said Sam Moore, half of the Sam & Dave soul duo, known for the hit "Hold On, I'm Comin'."

Moore said he was kicking off the concert in the East Room after an introduction by President Barack Obama. The 77-year-old said it's his first time meeting Obama and he joked about possibly wearing a diaper -- just in case.

"You just hope you don't slosh in your shoe," he said in between rehearsals. Moore did not give away any details about his performance.

Artist William Bell said the concert reaffirms years of hard work that began in the 1960s when Stax Records was created in Memphis, Tenn., and the label cranked out one soul and R&B hit after another for more than a decade.

Among its artists were Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Bell and Sam & Dave.

"As kids coming up, we didn't think it would last this long," the 73-year-old Bell said of the music genre during a rehearsal break. He said he would perform one of his hits, "You Don't Miss Your Water."

Tuesday's concert is the 10th in the "In Performance at the White House" series. The lineup includes Alabama Shakes, Steve Cropper, Ben Harper, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Joshua Ledet, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples, Justin Timberlake, Bell and Moore, with Booker T. Jones as music director and band leader.

Al Green was listed in the original lineup but, about an hour before the show, the White House released a statement from the singer's spokesman who said Green had suffered a back injury that will keep him from traveling and that he will be unable to perform. Green sent his regrets.

The entire program is set to air next Tuesday on PBS stations nationwide. It will also be broadcast at a later date over the American Forces Network for service members and civilians at Defense Department locations worldwide.

The program also honors Memphis, where whites and blacks came together in the 1960s to make a soulful blend of gospel and rhythmic grooves despite it being a segregated city.

Earlier in the day, the first lady kicked off a workshop featuring Moore, Staples, Timberlake, Musselwhite and Harper for students from 16 schools and organizations in Virginia, California, Memphis, New York City, Maryland, Florida and Washington, D.C.

She noted Memphis' history as the birthplace of Elvis Presley's rock and roll and B.B. King's blues.

"And while you can hear both of those influences in Memphis soul, this music has a style and a story uniquely its own," Mrs. Obama said, before launching into the story of Stax Records.

She noted that the label also represented "somebody my husband thinks he sounds like" -- Green. "Let's just tell him he does, OK? Since he is the president, we like to boost him up a little bit."

It was a reference to Obama singing a few bars of Green's "Let's Stay Together" in February 2012 during a Democratic fundraiser at New York's Apollo Theater.

Mrs. Obama also tried to encourage the students, including some aspiring musicians, by noting that the artists perched on stools in front of them have spent decades perfecting their talent to get where they are.

She recalled playing the piano as a young girl and said she regretted not keeping it up. But she said the skills learned through music can be useful in other avenues of life.

"The discipline, the patience, the diligence I learned through the study of music, those are all skills that I apply every single day in my life," Mrs. Obama said. "I applied them as a student, as a lawyer, as a first lady, and definitely as a mother."

Started in February 2009, the "In Performance at the White House" series has celebrated the music of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Hispanic music, music from the civil-rights era, Motown and the blues, Broadway and country music.

Tuesday's concert will be shown live on the White House website, http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

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White House Warns GOP About 'My Way or Highway' Budget Tactic

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  FILE: June 8, 2012: President Obama talks at a press conference inside the White House Briefing Room, in Washington.AP

The White House tried Sunday to win support for President Obama’s forthcoming budget, arguing the plan is a balanced approach to economic prosperity and warning Republicans about stonewalling negotiations and pushing a “rejected” Romney plan.  

“Right now, the approach of many Republicans, particularly the leadership in the House, is my way or the highway,” senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer told “Fox News Sunday.”  “Their view is the only acceptable plan is to try to … essentially enact the Romney economic plan. The American people rejected that, and Republicans shouldn't be doubling down on it.”

The White House effort comes three days before Obama releases his 2014 budget, which is expected to include a mix of tax increases and cuts to such entitlements as Social Security and Medicare.

“You can do both,” Pfeiffer said on ABC’s “This Week.” “That’s what you’ll see. …  What we won’t do is cut our way to prosperity.”

However, the outline of the plan has already been criticized by Republicans and some of the president’s staunchest supporters.

The release of the budget Wednesday, which will be followed by Obama meeting for dinner with Senate Republicans, is just part of a busy week in Washington.

Congress returns from a two-week break with the Senate attempting to reach a bipartisan agreement on immigration-reform legislation, and the leaders of the Democrat-controlled chamber trying to finish a gun-control proposal that might or might not include the contentious universal background checks for buyers.

Pfeiffer told Fox the meeting with Senate Republicans is simply an attempt to find a “caucus of common sense,” not end run leaders of the Republican-controlled House.

Last week, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Obama’s budget blueprint holds reforms “hostage” to tax increases. Organized labor also expressed its disappointment in the plan.

"The president should drop these misguided cuts in benefits and focus instead on building support in Congress for investing in jobs," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.

Obama supporters disagree particularly with the part of his spending plan that calls for a new inflation formula that would reduce the annual cost of living adjustments for a range of government programs, including Social Security and benefits for veterans.

Still, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed optimism Sunday about the plan, suggesting it was at least a starting point toward an elusive, long-term budget deal between Democrats and Republicans.  

"The president is showing a little bit of leg here,” Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “This is somewhat encouraging. We're beginning to set the stage for the grand bargain.”

Among the highlights of the president’s plan is spending cuts and tax increases that would reduce the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, replacing the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts, known as sequester, over the same period.

The proposal also is expected to include new spending for public works projects, early education and job training, as well as $580 billion in new taxes that Republicans oppose.

Counting reductions and higher taxes that Congress and Obama have approved since 2011, the 2014 budget would contribute $4.3 trillion to total deficit reduction by 2023.

On Saturday, the president said his budget was not his “ideal plan,” but it was a compromise that he would be willing to accept.

The House and Senate have already passed their own budget plans. The House plan cuts $5.7 trillion in spending and balances the budget in 10 years while the Senate plan increases taxes by $1 trillion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Rand Paul wins CPAC straw poll, Rubio second- Dr. Carson hints at White House run

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  FILE: March 14, 2013: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks at the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md.AP

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul won this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference 2016 presidential preference straw poll.

Paul was considered the likely favorite going into the three-day CPAC convention in suburban Washington, in large part because of his 13-hour Senate filibuster to demand more information from the Obama administration about its military drone policy. Paul won with 25 percent of the vote.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio finished second among the 23 names on the ballot, garnering 23 percent of the vote. The poll was cosponsored by The Washington Times.

The first-term senators and Tea Party favorites are considered rising stars in the conservative movement.

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, finished third with 8 percent of vote. He was followed by Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., who took fourth with 7 percent.

Christie and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell were not invited to speak at this year’s rally -- Christie in part for cozying up to President Obama to help get federal funding for Superstorm Sandy and McDonnell for supporting a state transportation bill that calls for tax increases.

Jeb Bush, another 2016 favorite, asked that his name be left off the ballot, saying it’s too early to commit.

Mitt Romney, the Republican’s 2012 presidential candidate, won last year’s CPAC poll, with Santorum in second place.

Officials said 2,930 people participated in this year’s online poll that included ballots from all 50 states.

The rest of the results were: Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan with 6 percent; Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker with 5 percent; Dr. Ben Carson with 4 percent, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz with 4 percent; Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal with 3 percent, former Alaska Republican Gov. and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin with 3 percent. The remaining candidates received a combined 14 percent.

Officials said 41 percents of voters were college students, suggesting a younger conservative movement. They also said libertarians were well represented in the poll -- both indications that this year’s voters identified with Paul’s concerns about the cost of overseas wars and the use of military drones on Americans on domestic soil.   

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White House Lowers Expectations Ahead of Obama's Mideast Trip

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  FILE: March, 5, 2012: President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C.AP

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  FILE - In this March 5, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Though Obama said he wouldn't be carrying a "grand peace plan" when he goes to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan later this month, three goals will dominate his visit: convincing Israeli leadership that he means what he says about stopping Iran from building a nuclear weapon, mending a troubled relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and enticing Israel back to negotiations with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)AP2012

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As President Obama heads to the Middle East this week, including his first visit to Israel, the White House is downplaying expectations, saying the president hopes only to help leaders come together to bring peace and democracy to the region.

The president arrives Wednesday in Jerusalem, where he will try to improve his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the heels of a newly installed Israeli government.

Netanyahu was re-elected in January but didn’t reach a deal until Friday with rival parties to create a coalition government that adds centrist Yesh Atid and pro-settler Jewish Home parties but excludes the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties for the first time in a decade.

“President Obama looks forward to working closely with the prime minister and the new government to address the many challenges we face and advance our shared interest in peace and security,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Saturday.

Among the country’s biggest issues are ongoing efforts between Israeli and Palestinian leaders to reach a peace agreement and Israel’s effort to stop neighboring Iran for acquiring a nuclear weapon.

The White House's apparent strategy is to lower expectations to create breathing room for frank peace talks between both sides that hopefully will include discussions about what it will take to get back to the negotiating table.

Josh Earnest, the White House deputy press secretary, said Friday the administration is “willing to continue to play a facilitating role.”

However, he said, face-to-face talks will be difficult if the leaders continue with unilateral, or one-sided, action -- including Israel building settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said last week the president feels he has already been clear about the Iran situation: He prefers to resolve the issue peacefully but has established a so-called “red line” -- not allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu has questioned Obama's commitment to containing Iran's nuclear ambitions, including military action. And he infamously lectured Obama in front of the media during a 2011 meeting at the White House, then later made no secret of his fondness for Republican challenger Mitt Romney in last year's presidential campaign.

The West says Iran's program is aimed at developing weapons technology. Iran says its program is for peaceful energy purposes.

Netanyahu, in a speech to the United Nations in September, said Iran was about six months away from being able to build a bomb. Obama told an Israeli television station this past week that the U.S. thinks it would take "over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon."

The centerpiece of Obama's visit will be a speech in Jerusalem to an audience mainly of Israeli students. It's part of the president's effort to appeal to the Israeli public, particularly young people.

He will make several cultural stops in the region. They include the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem; the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a revered site for Christians; and an Iron Dome battery, part of the missile defense system for which the U.S. has helped pay.

Traveling to the West Bank, Obama will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah. Obama and Fayyad will visit a Palestinian youth center, another attempt to reach the region's young people.

Obama will make a 24-hour stop in Jordan, an important U.S. ally, where the president's focus will be on the violence in neighboring Syria. More than 450,000 Syrians have fled to Jordan, crowding refugee camps and overwhelming aid organizations.

For much of Obama's first term, White House officials saw little reason for him to go to the region without a realistic chance for a peace accord between the Israelis and Palestinians. But with the president's one attempt at a U.S.-brokered deal thwarted in his first term and the two sides even more at odds, the White House has shifted thinking.

Beyond Mideast peace, Netanyahu and Obama have similar regional goals, including ending the violence in Syria and containing the political tumult in Egypt, which has a decades-old peace treaty with Israel.

Obama's visit to Israel may quiet critics in the U.S. who interpreted his failure to travel there in his first term as a sign that he was less supportive of the Jewish state than his predecessors. Republican lawmakers levied that criticism frequently during last year's presidential campaign, despite the fact that Republican President George W. Bush did not visit Israel until his final year in office.

In Obama’s talks with Jordan's King Abdullah, he also will try to shore up the country's fledgling attempts to liberalize its government and stave off an Arab Spring-style movement similar to the ones that have taken down leaders elsewhere in the region.

The president's final stop will be at Petra, Jordan's fabled ancient city.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Bon Voyage, Mr. President

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SEQUESTER BACKLASH?Administration Cancels White House Tours

Sorry, Washington-bound spring-breakers. Your White House tours have been canceled.

The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will cancel all tours starting this weekend, due to sequester cuts. The move prompted swift condemnation from Republican lawmakers, who described the decision as the latest attempt to make the sequester seem worse than it is. 

"It's politically motivated," Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Fox News. "It seems childish -- take my ball and go home." 

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, declared in a statement that "the people have been banned from the people's house." 

The announcement is the latest from the administration about the impact of the cuts that went into effect last Friday. Congressional staffers received a terse email saying White House tours would be canceled effective this Saturday. 

The email cited "staffing reductions" from the sequester. 

"Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours," the notice said. "We very much regret having to take this action, particularly during the popular Spring touring season." 

White House tours, which are self-guided, are typically scheduled through members of Congress. Visitors can request a tour through their representative up to six months in advance. 

Anyone arriving after Saturday, though, is in for a disappointment. 

A recorded message on the White House visitor's hotline Tuesday confirmed that the tours will soon be nixed until "further notice." 

Cramer said if he were to give the administration the benefit of the doubt, he could see White House tours being on the list of nonessential items. He said he doesn't think they'll close the White House to the public forever. 

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said the decision is just a bid to pressure Republican members to change course on the sequester -- he said it would not be successful. 

But Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, told Fox News this is another reason why both sides should figure out a compromise. She said the closure of White House tours will be "alarming" for children coming to D.C. for spring break. 

The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival also attracts droves of tourists in late March and early April, though the White House can no longer be on their itinerary. 

The administration has announced a raft of expected cutbacks in response to the sequester. The Defense Department, and other federal agencies, are planning to furlough thousands of workers to save money. Congress also announced that it would cut back on foreign travel. 

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report. 

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White House Calls Cuts 'Slow Grind'

The White House dug in Sunday on President Obama’s position on the $85 billion in spending cuts that kicked in this weekend, blaming Republicans and waving off criticism about presenting a doomsday scenario.

White House economic adviser Gene Sperling told ABC’s “This Week” that Republicans are to blame because they would not agree to close loopholes to increase taxes. And their strategy is flawed, he said, because the cuts will take resources from several of the party’s most valued positions – including national defense and border security.

“This is not a win for Republicans,” Sperling said. “This cuts into military preparedness.”

He also said he thinks his “Republican colleagues” will choose a bipartisan compromise that includes tax reform.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., responded by saying Congress agreed to tax increases in January “at the president’s request” and questioned why Obama and other Democrats will not agree to additional spending cuts.

She argued for potential pay freezes for federal employees and reforms to the federal food stamps program.

“There’s a whole host of ideas to cut spending” without jeopardizing security, Ayotte told ABC.

However, she also said she would consider tax reform that comes with entitlement reforms. But she would not agree to revenue increases to pay for additional government spending.

Sperling declined to directly respond to criticisms that Obama has exaggerated pay cuts or furloughs for Capitol Hill janitors and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, saying that thousands of teachers will lose their jobs at a result of the drastic, across-the-board cuts, known as sequester.

Sperling argued the janitors would say less overtime equals less pay and appeared to respond to both questions by saying corporate executives will argue the cuts will slow job growth.

He also dismissed a plan backed by at least some Republicans to give the president some flexibility in the cuts.

“It’s like saying you have to cut off three of your fingers but you can choose which ones.”

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TRANSPARENCY TUSSLE:Obama Golf Outing Renews White House, Press Conflict

The decades-old conflict between the press's right to know and the White House's desire for effective messaging reached a flash point over the weekend with the White House Press Corps being excluded from President Obama's golf outing with Tiger Woods.

"This isn't about the president’s golf score or having a beer on the 19th hole,” said Rick Blum, director of the Sunshine in Government Initiative, a group promoting policies for government accessibility and accountability. “This really gets to the president being responsive to the public. Sure the president deserves a vacation, but as president you cannot just disappear for four days."

For some in the press corps, the question of Obama's accessibility is especially pointed. Longtime White House correspondent Anne Compton of ABC News told Politico recently: "The way the president's availability to the press has shrunk in the last two years is a disgrace. ... This White House goes to extreme lengths to keep the press away.”

Her angst and that of others journalists may be exacerbated because Obama, known to be one of the most effective communicators of the modern presidency, is increasingly taking his message over the heads of the press corps and directly to the American people.

That is nothing new. But unlike previous administrations, the White House has new technologies to maximize its effect. Twitter, social media, Google fireside chats, local TV news interviews, entertainment shows, campaign-style appearances are all a part of the White House messaging strategy. And they are also the venues in which the president’s calm, folksy style works well.

"I think if you're running a campaign that's true," Blum said. But "if you're running a government, you want to be able to explain what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, so the public can engage in the process.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney rejects the notion that the president is bypassing the press corps to get out its message. 

"I will note," Carney said at Tuesday's press briefing, "when it come to solo news conferences, President Obama has given 35 of those. President Bush, his immediate predecessor, gave 19."

Independent research conducted by Fox News finds starkly different figures than Carney's. The president has held 21 solo White House news conferences to date. President George W. Bush held 15 in his first term, Fox News found.

Martha Kumar, a political scientist at Towson University who tracks every question that journalists ask the president, told Politico that Obama held brief press availabilities after photos ops or announcements one-third as much as George W. Bush did in his first term -- 107 to Bush's 355.

"I think they've chosen transparency up to a point,” Blum said. “The distinction here is that on some issues they've decided, ‘We'll explain it, but then you have to trust us.’ You also have to face tough questions from reporters. The public expects that of their leaders." 

Kumar suggests that expectation makes the role of the press corps more relevant than ever.

"If you look at the various news websites on the Internet, you know what information they are using? They are using stories from (the Associated Press,) The New York Times, The Washington Post. So, it all comes back to that."

Yet, she notes, the president has not granted interviews in years to the Post, The Times or The Wall Street Journal.

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