ABC Reporter Actually Asks Obama a Tough Question

Mark this date, June 10, 2008, on your calendars as the day someone in the Obama-loving media finally asked the Democrat presidential nominee a tough question.

Potentially even more surprising, the question and answer were posted at ABC News's website.

Is this a rare moment of clarity for a press member, or is this a sign the kid gloves are coming off now that Obama has won the nomination?

While you ponder, take a gander at what ABC's Jake Tapper posted at his blog Tuesday (emphasis added):

ABC News' Sunlen Miller today asked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, how he could "rail against Countrywide Financial Corp as an example of insiders and today's economy while your VP search is headed by someone who got questionable loans from Countrywide?" (This is an issue we wrote about earlier today.)

"And in addition," Miller continued, "another person on that same VP search team – Eric Holder -- has also been involved in the Marc Rich scandal."

"Well, look," Obama said, "the, the, I mean - first of all I am not vetting my VP search committee for their mortgages, so you’re gong to have to direct -- "

"But shouldn’t you?" asked Miller.

Crikey! Maybe even more shocking, Tapper took issue with Obama's answer:

Did I read that correctly? Did Obama claim that Johnson and Holder -- two of the three people heading up his VP search committee -- aren't "work"ing for him?

I suppose that's because they're unpaid, but my stars, that's a lot of high-level, time-consuming sensitive effort to not be considered "working" for Sen. Obama.

Double crikey!

Is this a foreshadowing of a potentially less Obama-loving media now that the junior senator from Illinois is an election away from becoming the most powerful person in the world? Or, are press members going to have to confront the Democrat presidential nominee every now and then just to give themselves some pretense of objectivity and journalistic integrity?

Stay tuned.