Charles Johnson notes that "the Barack Obama campaign has been making sure Obama doesn't have to answer any real questions from the international media."

(Such as a question about his choice of venues in Germany.)

Meanwhile, here's a domestic reporter that Obama would actually be quite wise to meet with:

On Wednesday, presumptive Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama blamed his wife's high negative ratings on "the conservative press--Fox News and the National Review" as well as "rants by Sean Hannity."

He also said, "And you know, the problem is that rarely do these folks have the guts to say it to your face."

On Thursday, Hannity struck back (video embedded right):

Senator Obama, here is my invitation. Anything I've ever said about you, you can sit right here, and I will say it to your face. Do you have the guts to come on this program and take some tough questions?

In the late 1960s and 1970s, when television meant four liberal networks and the sole token conservative program was Bill Buckley's Firing Line, Ronald Reagan benefited greatly by regularly going into the network hornets' nests, debating, and regularly besting his ideological opponents in the media.

And at least until this year, John McCain counted many of his best friends in those same networks. On the opposite side of the aisle, Hillary easily survived an appearance on Bill O'Reilly's show this year; and as Roger Ailes noted last year, "The candidates that can't face Fox, can't face Al Qaeda".