Where Ed Henry Learned The Importance of the Follow-Up

CNN’s senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is talking about his question and President Obama’s terse answer during last night’s news conference.

Henry asked Obama why he waited days to express outrage over the AIG bonuses.

“Because I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak,” Obama shot back. Here’s what Henry wrote this afternoon on CNN.com:

I kept thinking back to a conversation I had with Wolf Blitzer Saturday night at the Gridiron dinner. He said that when he was CNN’s Senior White House correspondent, he liked following up on a question the president had ducked earlier in the newser.

The president, like any good politician, decided to pick and choose what to answer. So he swatted away the budget question and ignored the AIG stuff.

So I waited patiently and then decided to pounce with a sharp follow-up. From just a few feet away, I could see in his body language that the normally calm and cool president was perturbed.

The Henry-Obama exchange was also fodder for Carl Quintanilla and Joe Kernen on CNBC’s Squawk Box…

Kernen: Who was that guy that asked that question?

Quintanilla: That was Ed Henry of CNN.

Kernen: Ed Henry of CNN. With the president, I would have said, ‘unlike some people I like to know what I’m talking about before I…” I think I would have started with, unlike the person maybe asking the question. I would snap — I couldn’t take it.

Quintanilla: Ed’s a very good guy. He’s doing his job.

Kernen: That question? Was it your…

Quintanilla: He’s trying to elicit a response is what he’s doing.

Kernen: That’s the job?

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.