Obama sets press straight

(Dresden) President Barack Obama thinks the media has been focusing on the wrong stories. At a press conference Friday morning in Dresden, Germany, Mr. Obama chastised the German press for their 'very wild' speculations and tried to set the American press straight.
The German media have reported for days that the White House has snubbed the German government by limiting Mr. Obama's time in the country. He arrived late Thursday night and departs for France by mid afternoon.
Mr. Obama denied that his schedule was a reflection of strained relations with his German counterpart. "Most of the speculation about my schedule here in Germany, doesn't take into account simple logistics," he said explaining that with his stops in the Middle East and Saturday's D Day anniversary events in Normandy, "there are only 24 hours in the day."
"So, stop it all of you," he told the German reporters, "I know you have to find something to report on, we have more than enough problems out there without manufacturing problems."
The American press may have gotten off with less blunt words, but Mr. Obama was not shy in pointing out that some issues had not been focused on.
Two reporters pushed Mr. Obama to list specific next steps that he would like to see from Israelis and Palestinians in order to break the stalemate of the peace process.
The President acknowledged that "a lot of attention" had been given to his call for the Israeli's to stop settlement growth in the West Bank. But that's not enough he explained. "What's been interesting is that less attention been focused on the insistence on my part that the Palestinians and Arab states have to take concrete actions," said Mr. Obama.
The President says there are still many issues the Palestinian Authority must take control of in order to govern effectively that will enable both the Palestinians and the Israelis to move forward.
And on the topic of genocide in Darfur, Mr. Obama found himself defending his administration's actions to combat the tragedy after a suggestion from a reporter that the White House is not doing enough. "It may not have received the attention in the press that some of the other issues have," the President said pointedly, "but we're spending a lot of time trying to make sure we make progress and that the people of Darfur are able to return to their homes and live in peace.
The press conference with Chancellor Merkel was the only one schedule during his five day foreign trip.