'Enchanted'? Twitterverse Pounces

One question from last night’s presidential press conference has pundits and Twitterers buzzing: A reporter asked President Obama what “surprised,” “troubled,” “enchanted,” and “humbled” him about the office. “I thought the Miss USA Pageant was *last* week,” read one Tweet cited by the Christian Science Monitor. Reporters first mocked the “laughable question”—then decided the New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny was a “secret genius,” Gawker says.

Obama pulled out a pen to write down Zeleny's four-part question, then answered, offering America “a chance to see the man think on his feet,” writes Carl Cannon in Politics Daily, who breaks down Obama’s response. He is:

• “suprised” by “the number of critical issues” hitting simultaneously.
• “sobered,” rather than troubled, by continued “bickering” at a key moment.
• “humbled” by the fact that the presidency is just one of many centers of US power.
• “enchanted” by—or, better, “profoundly impressed and grateful” to—the troops.

(More media stories.)