White House spokesman Jay Carney dodged a question from Politico reporter Glenn Thrush Tuesday about whether President Obama would address the American people directly about the NSA's extensive surveillance program.



THRUSH: On the NSA thing, it's obviously a big deal. You've got members of the president's own party questioning what the DNI said about this. This clearly has repercussions that are far more significant than some of the other things we've talked about. Isn't it time for the president to address the American people directly? Isn't this sort of a litmus of leadership to tell people when you are taking them in a new direction and when they are confronted with these various challenges?

CARNEY: Well, Glenn, the president took questions and answered them at length on this specific issue on Friday. I think he answered for a total of 14 minutes. Two multi-part questions on these issues that probably given the standards here, that's six or eight questions. And the fact of the matter is he will continue to discuss this, and he will continue — he is interested in and believes in a debate about these issues and believes it's worthy and important to engage in that debate. I would just note, as I did earlier, that prior to these revelations, the president addressed this specific issue in a speech at the National Defense University — you weren't interested until there were revelations.

THRUSH: Most Americans were not aware of this. Don't you think former —

CARNEY: Let me just say that the Patriot Act is a public statute. There is spirited and animated debate about the re-authorization of the patriot act every time it comes up for re-authorization, which includes most recently in 2011. The provisions under which the sections of the law under which these programs exist have been and are debated and they have been since the first re-authorization, updated in a way that made sure that oversight that did not exist over programs in the previous administration, in the first years of the previous administration, does exist. And that was at the insistence of lawmakers, including then-Senator Obama, that kind of enhanced oversight by the — all three branches of government take place and exist with programs that are vital to our national security.

THRUSH: Mike Mukasey has said the president ought to have a fireside chat with the American people about this. Why not do that?

CARNEY: I'm not saying — I think i just said, Glenn, although I appreciate yours and the former Attorney General's specific recommendations about the modalities of presidential communication, the president has and will speak about this subject.