I was just watching 60 Minutes. Mike Wallace was interviewing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I saw something there completely foreign to American politics. Wallace asked questions of a sitting head of state, and Ahmadinejad predictably attempted to dodge the questions.
However, Wallace refused the evasions as par for the course and persisted in his line of questioning, asking questions three and four times until he got some sort of answer from Ahmadinejad.
Can you imagine a reporter having this sort of tact interviewing President Bush? For that matter, can you imagine Bush answering a difficult question posed to him?
It's a sad reflection on the state of American politics and journalism when the idea of forcing an elected official to answer a question with any degree of honesty is a surprising event.
