Some enchanted evening

Not surprisingly, but perhaps justifiably, conservative critics are all over the White House press corps for its not-so harsh interrogation of President Obama in the 100-day news conference Wednesday night.

On Fox News Channel, comedian-turned-commentator Dennis Miller complained about softball questions lobbed at Obama, saying that beauty pageant contestants have received tougher queries. He was referring to Miss California Carrie Prejean, whose answer in the Miss USA contest coming out in opposition to gay marriage stoked controversy, and in some eyes, cost her the crown.

Critics highlighted in particular the starry-eyed query from a New York Times reporter that will forever be known as the "enchanted question."

As in: "During these first 100 days, what has surprised you the most about this office, enchanted you the most about serving this in office, humbled you the most and troubled you the most?"

"Let me write this down," Obama replied to laughter from the assembled reporters.

"Surprised, troubled..." the Times reporter said helpfully.

"I've got -- what was the first one?" the president asked.

"Surprised."

"Surprised," Obama repeated.

"Troubled."

"Troubled," Obama repeated, writing that down.

"Enchanted," the Times scribe continued.

"Enchanted? Nice," Obama said to more laughter.

"And humbled."

"And what was the last one, humbled?" Obama asked.

"Humbled," the reporter confirmed. "Thank you, sir."

"All right. Okay," Obama started with more laughter. "Surprised. I am surprised compared to where I started, when we first announced for this race, by the number of critical issues that appear to be coming to a head all at the same time. You know, when I first started this race, Iraq was a central issue, but the economy appeared on the surface to still be relatively strong. There were underlying problems that I was seeing with health care for families and our education system and college affordability and so forth, but obviously I didn't anticipate the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

"And so the typical President I think has two or three big problems; we've got seven or eight big problems. And so we've had to move very quickly, and I'm very proud of my team for the fact that we've been able to keep our commitments to the American people to bring about change while, at the same time, managing a whole host of issues that had come up that weren't necessarily envisioned a year and a half ago.

"Troubled? I'd say less troubled, but sobered by the fact that change in Washington comes slow; that there is still a certain quotient of political posturing and bickering that takes place even when we're in the middle of really big crises. I would like to think that everybody would say, you know what, let's take a timeout on some of the political games, focus our attention for at least this year and then we can start running for something next year. And that hasn't happened as much as I would have liked.

"Enchanted? (Laughter.) Enchanted. I will tell you that when I meet our servicemen and women -- 'enchanted' is probably not the word I would use. (Laughter.) But I am so profoundly impressed and grateful to them for what they do. They're really good at their job. They are willing to make extraordinary sacrifices on our behalf. They do so without complaint. They are fiercely loyal to this country. And the more I interact with our servicemen and women, from the top brass down to the lowliest private, I'm just -- I'm grateful to them.

"Humbled by the -- humbled by the fact that the presidency is extraordinarily powerful but we are just part of a much broader tapestry of American life. And there are a lot of different power centers, and so I can't just press a button and suddenly have the bankers do exactly what I want, or turn on a switch and suddenly Congress falls in line. And so what you do is to make your best arguments, listen hard to what other people have to say, and coax folks in the right direction."

UPDATE: Asked about the question on MSNBC this afternoon, the reporter, Jeff Zeleny, said that Obama has well-rehearsed answers on the issues of the day, so he was seeking something different. Zeleny said it elicited some "telling," more personal responses.

(Fox's reporter was not called on by the president. Fox was the only broadcast network that didn't air the news conference, though its cable siblings, Fox News Channel and Fox Business, did.)