"The economy is still a nightmare. The military situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan are perilous -- and getting worse. But for all the troubles swirling around the nation these days, America has rarely seemed to be in such steady and capable hands.

That was the feeling that came across on TV Wednesday night watching President Barack Obama's 100-days press conference. Even on his best nights, John F. Kennedy did not seem as calm, confident and masterful as Obama did in an hour's worth of prime time give and take with the press.

As good as Obama has been in such settings before, Wednesday he seemed perfectly tuned to each shifting topic and tone.

The president was appropriately sober, moral and earnest in talking about waterboarding as torture -- without taking the bait and using the question to attack players in the previous administration for their excesses in prisoner abuse.

But he could also be teasing and playful as when a New York Times reporter asked him what he was most "surprised, troubled, enchanted and humbled" by in his first 100 days. By the time the questioner got to "enchanted," Obama was reaching in his suit coat pocket for a pen saying, "Wait, let me write this down." He made great theater out of getting all of the long question on paper -- especially the word "enchanted."

But then, Obama went on and gave thoughtful and eloquent answers to each of the four parts of the question.

As impressive as Obama was in that exchange, his best moment came in explaining to a questioner how Britain's Winston Churchill refused to allow the torture of Nazi prisoners during World War II even during the darkest hours of The Blitz when Britain was under a withering German air attack night after night.

Obama quoted Churchill as saying he would not allow torture because he feared behaving in such a manner would "corrode the character of the nation" -- in other words, the British people would be the ultimate victims of torturing their enemies. It was an inspired historical point of comparison that allowed the president to show how incredibly short-sighted and even ignorant George W. Bush and Richard Cheney were in their policies of torture without having to mention either man's name Wednesday night.

Outside of the Fox broadcast network, the cable channels and nets all had special programs planned for Wednesday in which analysts would assess Obama's performance in office for the first 100 days.

But the president stole their thunder with his press conference performance. It was as good or better than Ronald Reagan on his very best TV night. And outside of a few disingenuous remarks from Obama alleging that he does "not want to grow government," there was far more substance, coherence and sense of history to the president's performance than Reagan could ever imagine. ..." Baltimore Sun