President-Elect Obama: I Thought The Rugged Western Beard Was Working For Bill Richardson



That was then --



-- This is now. (image via google via ap)

President elect Barack Obama broke the chain of not calling on Fox News reporters at his presser in Chicago today in unveiling Governor Bill Richardson as his Commerce Secretary designate. From Swamppolitics:

"At the recently completely press conference at which President-elect Barack Obama officially named Gov. Bill Richardson his choice for Commerce Secretary, Obama called on Fox News's White House reporter.

"... After being called on, (Wendell Goler, Fox News's reporter) thanked the president for calling on him. The reporter then asked one serious and one not-so-serious question.

"What would Obama's reaction be if Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. dipped into the second half of the $700 billion bailout funds even before Obama is sworn in? And Goler's light-hearted question directed to Richardson: 'What happened to the beard?'

"This was the second interesting thing about Goler's question. Obama decided to answer it first.

"'I'm going to answer this question about the beard. I think it was mistake for him to get rid of it. I thought that whole western rugged look was really working for him. For some reason, maybe because it was scratchy when he kissed his wife, he was forced to get rid of it. But we're deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard.'"

No word yet on whether or not former President Bill Clinton has forgiven Richardson for not endorsing his wife in the Democrat party primary.