[Costello:] There has been endless conversation about the verdict in the George Zimmerman case. But there is one voice that has been conspicuously absent President Obama. You may remember he discussed what happened before official charges were filed against George Zimmerman. But since then, since the verdict, President Obama hasn't said anything. Our Randi Kaye looks at why.
[Randi Kaye, Cnn National Correspondent:] When Trayvon Martin was killed, President Barack Obama was in the midst of his re- election campaign. He took nearly a month to comment on the teenager's death. And when he did
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon.
[Kaye:] His comment became the story. He became the story.
[Gloria Borger, Cnn Chief Political Analyst:] This is a President who is very mindful of not wanting to be a lightning rod. He wants to be a facilitator for the discussion. He wants to have the discussion.
[Kaye:] Which may explain the President's reluctance over the years to wade into racial issues. Still at times, there was no escaping it.
[Obama:] I'm the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas.
[Kaye:] In 2008 when the racially divisive sermons of his former Pastor Jeremiah Wright nearly brought down his first campaign for president, Obama delivered this long-awaited speech on race.
[Obama:] This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years.
[Kaye:] Joshua Dubois was the President's spiritual adviser at the time.
[Joshua Dubois, Former Spiritual Adviser To President Obama:] It's a balance between addressing the policy objective that you have as a Commander-in-Chief and also you know speaking out as an African- American man, as someone who's faced his own challenges in his life. It's the dance between the the public and the personal. That's what the President has to navigate.
[Kaye:] A year after his so-called race speech, President Obama found himself in the middle of another race-related firestorm. Police had arrested an African-American Harvard Professor, Skip Gates, in his own home, after he showed I.D. Listen to what the President said.
[Obama:] I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. Number two that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.
[Kaye:] Charges against the Professor for disorderly conduct were later dropped. The President tried to smooth things over and save his plunging poll numbers by inviting Professor Henry Louis Gates and the Sergeant who arrested him to what became known as the beer summit at the White House. [on camera]: And now with the Zimmerman not guilty verdict dividing this country the President may be struggling once again to find his footing. After the verdict a muted response, nothing on camera, just a paper statement void of any mention of racial tension. The President wouldn't want to be seen as coming down on one side or the other. [voice-over]: But that doesn't mean he won't talk about it in the near future. For now, though, he'll leave decisions about a possible federal case against George Zimmerman up to Attorney General Eric Holder the first African-American to hold that post. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
[Costello:] All right let's bring in Nicole Roeberg. She's communications director for the Washington based Web site, conservative Web site, "The Daily Caller"; and Jason Johnson, HLN contributor and political columnist for "The Chicago Defender". After President Obama gave a brief statement on the verdict and he did that in writing right. He asked the nation to respect Trayvon's parents call for calm. "The Daily Caller" sent a 16-year-old intern to a White House press conference to press the administration about security concerns for George Zimmerman. Here is what happened.
[Gabe Finger, Intern, The Daily Caller:] Because of the death threats being received by George Zimmerman and his parents, is the President is going to take any action for his security or are they on their own?
[Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary:] The President has called for echoing the statements of Trayvon Martin's family for calm reflection in the wake of the verdict. And that continues to be his position. He's certainly would oppose any violence of any kind.
[Finger:] So they're on their own?
[Carney:] You can editorialize all you want. And I have no doubt that you will, but that is a ridiculous statement.
[Costello:] Ok so let's start with you Nicole. That is pretty unusual for an intern, especially one still in high school, to ask a question at a White House briefing. So why did "The Daily Caller" do this in such a high-profile case?
[Nicole Roeberg, Communications Director, The Daily Caller:] Well, I don't think that you know we know he was necessarily going to get ask the question get the chance to ask the question. He certainly went prepared to ask the question. And we've sent several interns in the past briefings and they've gotten the chance to ask I know at least two others have gotten a chance to ask a question at a briefing. And it just didn't make news because they weren't mocked the way that Gabe was mocked yesterday.
[Costello:] So did you have one of your own journalists in that White House briefing in addition to that 16-year-old kid?
[Roeberg:] Yesterday, we did not. Generally Neil Munro our White House correspondent does go and take one or two interns with him to the briefings so that they can get a chance to go and experience it. He had a scheduling conflict yesterday and Gabe was already ready to go and have been cleared in for his security 24 hours in advance. And there was no reason not to send him.
[Costello:] So what what answer did he want, though? Did he did he want the President to send a Secret Service agent to protect George Zimmerman? I mean what answer was he striving to get?
[Roeberg:] Well it's certainly not up to Gabe you know what the President should do in response to the Zimmerman threat. I think he just wanted to know if he had an opinion. And what that opinion was and actually the beginning of Jay Carney's answer which you guys didn't play I thought was really interesting which was that he said he wasn't aware of the story. He wasn't aware that the Zimmerman family was getting death threats.
[Costello:] Yes and he did say that. And I did hear that. So Jason, I'll ask you, this this intern he obviously got under Jay Carney's skin, right? Does that give us some sense of what the White House is really feeling? Or was this or was Jay Carney just irritated at a question from a kid?
[Jason Johnson, Hln Contributor:] Yes, I think Jay Carney was responding to an obnoxious frat boy stunt. Let's be honest. There was no point in having a 16-year-old ask a provocative and incendiary and unnecessary question. He didn't know what the situation was necessarily going on with the Zimmerman family. Everyone knows perfectly well that Barack Obama would have no direct responsibility for protecting them. And it was a stunt and it's something that "The Daily Caller" should be ashamed of.
[Costello:] So so Nicole I so Nicole I must say after Gabe asked his question he actually tweeted this, "Just angered Obama's Press Secretary. Word." So was that the intention to anger the White House?
[Roeberg:] Of course that's never the intention and I don't think he respected I'm sorry I don't think he expected to get the, you know, angry response out of Jay Carney that he got. He went with a reasonable question that no one else has asked. And you know, look Zimmerman's parents were on another network earlier this week saying they were afraid to go back to their house because they've had hundreds of death threats. And no has brought that out. And you know President Obama has been very vocal, not very vocal, but President Obama has been vocal about this case back you know almost since it first hit the national scene and it's a reasonable question that seemed [inaudible]. And I would say that his age I don't his age has nothing to do with it. He's 16 years old. Yes, he's been doing great work for us all summer long. He was prepared with a question. And you know we like to send our interns out to do real things. We don't we don't have our interns making coffee and making copies. We have them going to press conferences and going to events on Capitol Hill and writing stories with our by lines to get published on our Web site.
[Costello:] Yes but in this situation this is such a sensitive issue right at this moment for both George Zimmerman and for the black community. So and Jason, I see you smiling there.
[Johnson:] Yes, I mean I mean look, it wasn't a sincere question. And you can tell by his reaction it wasn't a sincere question.
[Roeberg:] I'm sorry. That's not true at all.
[Johnson:] And this is the second time "The Daily Caller" has done this, this year. Please tell me some other incidents where the President of the United States is going to take personal responsibility for protecting a family because the public doesn't like a jury ruling. It doesn't make any sense. And if you had a sincere question, then it would have made more sense. But he didn't have one, it was just a stunt in order to bring attention.
[Roeberg:] It was not a stunt at all.
[Johnson:] Again they should be a shame for putting a 16-year-old in that particular situation.
[Roeberg:] It was not preplanned and not only was it not
[Johnson:] Would you please stop interrupting me just because I pointed out the fact that you guys did something very inconsiderate with a 16- year-old?
[Roeberg:] I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
[Costello:] So Jason are you done?
[Johnson:] Yes I'm done now.
[Costello:] Can Nicole weigh in. Ok Nicole go ahead take it away?
[Roeberg:] It was not a stunt. It was not planned number one and number two we didn't know that he was going to get called on. I mean you know we often "The Daily Caller" often doesn't get called on. Yes, we've been called on in the past. But we certainly didn't know that he would be called on. He obviously was going to go you know prepared with a very relevant question. It is a relevant question. You know President Obama has been very vocal about this. And you know it is obviously you know a state issue. But it's it's an issue that you know gripped America. And and it's interesting to know what the President thinks of it and whether he thinks
[Costello:] But you do realize that the President walks a fine line here. He's the President of the United States. He has to be very careful and weigh what
[Roeberg:] That's true
[Costello:] what he will say if he says anything to the nation.
[Roeberg:] Yes.
[Costello:] It's the not just something that Jay Carney should just whip out an answer to in a press briefing, is it?
[Roeberg:] No, but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be asked. I mean Jay Carney could have said, "You know, I don't know, I haven't talked to the President about that. I'll ask him about it. I will get back to you." I mean generally these press conferences don't produce a lot of news. They happen every single day at the daily briefing. I don't know when the last time news was made at an actual daily briefing. You know, we asked a question. It was a relevant question that should have been asked.
[Costello:] All right. Jason Johnson, Nicole Roeberg, thank you for debating the issue this morning.
[Roeberg:] Thank you.
[Johnson:] Thank you.
[Costello:] Tonight on "AC 360", Trayvon Martin's parents will react to the reported death threats, the verdict, and life after the trial. That interview live tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.