Obama with a serious tone and straight face: "If you want to be President, your life has to be an open book!"

◼ Obama: ‘You Can’t Just Make Stuff Up’ - CNS News
◼ President Obama Shamed by Media Into Holding Surprise Press Conference - Bryan Preston/PJM
◼ Obama’s mediocre outing before the press corps - Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post

In an effort to soothe the increasingly peeved White House press corps, the president appeared in the White House Briefing Room today to take a few questions. It was a remarkably ineffective performance, which the White House must hope that few people watched.

Among other untruths, the president insisted, “Nobody accused Mr. Romney of being a felon.” Well, other than deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter. With regard to his super PAC ad claiming that Mitt Romney, in effect, killed a woman, President Obama maintained, “I don’t think Governor Romney is somehow responsible for the death of the woman that was portrayed in that ad. But keep in mind, this is an ad that I didn’t approve, I did not produce, and as far as I can tell, has barely run. I think it ran once.” Well, except the woman’s husband, Joe Soptic, was trotted out for an Obama campaign press conference.

◼ Perino: Despite Obama’s ‘Mistreatment’ Of The Press, He Still Gets ‘Amazing Coverage’ - Noah Rothman.Mediaite
◼ DENIES FELONY SMEAR ON ROMNEY - Real Clear Politics via Drudge
◼ OBAMA: 'We don't go out of bounds'... - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @Joelmentum
◼ OBAMA KNOCKS ROMNEY FOR NOT RELEASING MEDICAL RECORDS, HASN'T DISCLOSED HIS OWN - John Nolte/Breitbart

Lately, the media has been beating up on Barack Obama for not giving them enough love and attention. Out of frustration, the media didn’t heckle or taunt Obama like they did Romney in Poland, but the message was sent and, just a few minutes ago, Obama surprised everyone in the White House Briefing Room with an unscheduled press conference.

...it was NBC's Chuck Todd who did Obama's bidding and lobbed a sweet softball right over the plate about Romney's taxes. This is when things got bizarre, because this is when Obama said something inadvertently hilarious. Yes, the least vetted president in the history of our great republic said that president's should be "open books," and then specifically cited tax returns and medical records.

The American people have assumed that if you want to be president of the United States, your life’s an open book when it comes to things like finances. I’m not asking to disclose every detail of his medical records, although we normally do that as well.

"Normally we do that as well?"

Really?

...This isn’t all "President Open Book" has refused to release. There's also the full list of his 2008 campaign contributors, his state senate papers, academic transcripts, book proposal, the real White House guest list, all those Fast and Furious documents, and any number of FOIA requests.

◼ President Obama Denies Linking Romney To Woman's Death, But The Claim Is On His Campaign Website - Andrew Kaczynski/Buzzfeed

President Obama said today in a press conference that he didn't think Mitt Romney was responsible for the death of a steelworker's wife portrayed in an ad by his SuperPAC. The President then added the ad wasn't run or produced by his campaign and barely ran. But a similar claim exists on his website in ◼ a slideshow linking Romney to the women's death.

◼ WHITE HOUSE INSIDER: Obama Preps Media For “Surprise” Press Conference - Ulsterman