Persistence. That’s the message that President Barack Obama ended with last night as he took a battery of questions from the press during his news conference on the economy.

He held his second presidential press conference after a week in which he unveiled another multi-trillion dollar of packages: the small business leading fix; another bailout for the auto industry — this time for suppliers; and the details of the Treasury Department’s plan to buy toxic assets and clean up the balance sheets of the nation’s banks.

Although my seat number was 203, I was seated in the front row, a few feet away from the president, in what I like to call Broadcaster’s Row. The row is occupied by a number of White House correspondents that you see on cable television each night. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd sat next to me. It was a great position to be an eyewitness to history. I was hopeful that I would get a question but it didn’t happen this time around..... MORE

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Derek T. Dingleis senior vice president/editor-in-chief of black enterprise magazine. He is responsible for the strategic planning and editorial direction of the magazine and has executive oversight of both black enterprise television shows: Black Enterprise Business Report and Our World with Black Enterprise. In addition he oversees content development for the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo and other events related to the magazine.

 

In January 2009, he assumed the added role of black enterprise chief White House correspondent, splitting his time between the company’s New York headquarters and Washington, D.C.  On Feb. 9 he secured the first post-inaugural print interview with President Barack Obama, making national headlines with an exclusive Q&A initially published on the company’s Website, www.blackenterprise.com.