"You'll have to ask her..."

In a surreal turn of events, the White House press corps grilled Jay Carney about the prospects of Hillary Clinton mounting a primary challenge against Barack Obama. Courtesy of RealClearPolitics (they also have video of the exchange):

At yesterday's White House press briefing WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Lester Kinsolving asked Jay Carney if President Obama is "certain" that Hillary Clinton won't primary him. This comes after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Obama has moved to the right because he has no primary opponent.

Carney said the White House is pretty certain Clinton won't challenge Obama, however he tells Kinsolving "you'll have to ask her." Transcript of the exchange:

Lester Kinsolving: "Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders said, and this is a quote, "one of the reasons the president has moved so far to the right is there is no primary opposition to him." And my question: Why is the president certain Hillary won't run against him?"

Jay Carney: "You win the award for originality today."

Kinsolving: "Thank you very much."

Carney: "The president is focused not on any election, he's focused right now on doing his job to grow the economy, create jobs, ensure Americans who are in the path of this hurricane are taken care of.

Kinsolving: "I understand. Why are you running away from this question? Can you guarantee, I mean, are you sure Hillary is not going to run."

Carney: "You'll have to ask her. We're fairly confident -- that we need to focus on the task at hand."

What I find amazing is that the press asks the White House about whether or not Barack Obama has moved the the right due to no primary opposition. What?

In addition, they've already asked Sarah Palin over and over again about what her intentions are. Why not ask Jay Carney about a Sarah Palin run? Even more, why don't they pester the dickens out of Hillary Clinton as to what her plans are? This is truly becoming theater of the absurd!

Cross-posted from Roderic Deane