Ed Henry Responds To Obama’s ‘Didn’t Know You Were Spokesperson For Romney’ Joke

At a joint press conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Fox News’ Ed Henry asked the President to respond to a quote from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over recent actions by Iran, to which President Obama replied, “I didn’t know you were the spokesperson for Mitt Romney.”

Minutes later, Megyn Kelly asked Henry for his reaction, and he defended the question, and said the President “decided not to engage with Mitt Romney, instead decided to kind of go after me a little bit.”

Kelly and Henry framed the question as standard procedure at press conferences. Kelly asked, “What do you make of that, Ed? Because, obviously, that happens all the time in these White House q&as, where you quote somebody else, whether it’s a Republican like Boehner or somebody, to the President.”

Henry repeated the theme a bit later, saying to Kelly, “As you noted, in these news conferences it’s pretty typical to quote political opponents, whether it’s John Boehner, whether it’s Mitt Romney. Here’s what they’re saying, what’s your response?”

In the President’s defense, however, it is somewhat unusual for a reporter to quote a political opponent on an unrelated matter. Romney’s quote came froma speech that the candidate made before news of the Iranian plot broke, so the President could be forgiven for thinking there was some editorializing going on, even if that wasn’t the intent.

Henry seems to recognize that distinction, as he explains, “I was trying to put it in the broader context of not just Mitt Romney, but there are a lot of Republicans who charge this president leads from behind. This was an opportunity for him to push back on those critics in the context of Iran.”

Henry’s motives may be pure, but as he’s probably learning, working for Fox makes a big difference in how this White House hears Henry’s questions, if not on how he asks them.

Here’s the clip, from Fox News:

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.