Before I get to Robert Gibbs’ statement on the death of Michael Jackson, here’s my personal favorite performance:

MJ superfan Jake Tapper broached the subject first, and Gibbs related some of the President’s thoughts:

April Ryan then asked Gibbs why there had been no written statement on the singer’s death, when other leaders had done so.  Gibbs responded by giving us all permission to shout questions at the President during all future press conferences:

Yeah, that’s my giant head obscuring April during that whole clip.  I’ll duck next time.

After the briefing, a bunch of us were discussing the idea that one of us should have shouted a question to the President during the earlier press conference with Angela Merkel.  Someone pointed out that the President had paused after he had signaled that it was over, as if he expected us to fire the question at him.  There definitely was an unusual pause.

Perhaps untangling the late singer’s troubles from his talent was a task that the President felt better equipped to do with a verbal statement, rather than a written one.