ABC photo
by Mike Memoli
In a wide-ranging interview on "The View," President Obama said he has Jay-Z on his iPod, doesn't tweet, and is not invited to Chelsea Clinton's wedding. He knows that Lindsay Lohan is in jail, but confessed not to know who Snooki is (though he used her as a punch line at the White House Correspondents Dinner in May).
But for all the fluff, Obama also covered the major issues of his presidency thus far, including the economy, Afghanistan and health care. While acknowledging he's hit some rough patches, the president professed to taking a "long view" on the decisions he's made so far. He also bemoaned a political culture he ran on the promise of changing.
"I volunteered for this job, and politics is not bean bag. Politics is a contact sport and you expect people going at you," he said. "The one thing that does frustrate me sometimes is the sense that we shouldn't be campaigning all the time. There is a time to campaign and then there is a time to govern. What we've tried to do over the last 20 months is to govern."
Obama also criticized a media culture that focuses on conflict but not compromise. But critics argue that he has used a campaign-style approach to governing that has exacerbated the problem. For instance, he used a recent town hall meeting to go after House Minority Leader John Boehner for, as he described it, comparing the economic collapse to an ant.
And his comment about campaigning was of note given that immediately after the taping, he traveled elsewhere in New York for two major fundraisers.
As I wrote about today, Obama's appearance on the daytime chat show is part of a White House strategy to get its message out to the widest possible audience, one niche group at a time.
"People have busy lives, and it's best to go where they are," press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
Whether the president should be taking questions about things like Snooki running for mayor of Wasilla or Mel Gibson's telephone rants is another question altogether. And there is the risk of being overexposed.
"I'm not sure at this point that Barack Obama's message isn't already out there," Syracuse University professor Robert Thompson told me. "Is in fact part of the problem that a lot of people are hearing these messages and not liking them?"
Comments
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that that pea brain wingnut, Elisabeth Hassellbeck, asked to see Pres Obama's birth certificate.
Posted by: Rob | July 29, 2010 12:49 PM
This guy is too much. Does anyone, besides the brain dead posters that defend the lecturer in chief here on The Swamp, believe a word that he says?
Hey Barry, if you don't want to be campaigning all the time stop going on shows like the View and campaigning. I'm sure the irony of Barry's BS was lost on his disciples.
Posted by: Free To Watch the Liberal's Summer Meltdown | July 29, 2010 12:53 PM
Posted by: Free To Watch the Liberal's Summer Meltdown | July 29, 2010 12:53 PM
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Free to Watch Cartoons,
It only sounds like lecturing to the low IQ Teabagger Repugs like you because you're used to listening to Shrub Jr trying and failing to speak in complete sentences.
Pres Obama needs to do more of this. This is a great way for him to bypass the Right Wing Noise Machine and speak directly to the American people, reminding them of the two nasty little wars left over from his predecessor Shrub Jr, a hyper-partisan Repug opposition party, an environmental disaster resultant of lax oversight and self-regulation established by the Cheney cabal, an economy to pull out of the ditch (thanks again, Repugs), an oligarchic plutocratically 24/7 propaganda media machine (Faux News, AM Hate Radio etc) in hyper drive. Pres Obama has rolled up his sleeves and worked on getting our country upright again instead of going off to Texas to cut brush. His plate has been a little full since he took office and I'm glad he did a media session where people at least act civil instead of acting like Faux Noise hyenas do.
Posted by: Rob | July 29, 2010 1:27 PM
Rob/HHH/former republican/Hulk Smash/John E/Dumb Dumb Janet: If anyone is free to watch cartoons it is you! You live in mummy's and daddy's basement hiding from the men in white clothes from the Elgin Mental Hospital and all you do is re-post nonsense from the DailyKook all day long.
Anyway, Obimbo is a classic nut job. We need the men in white clothes to give him some serious mental examinations. He whines about campaigning all the time, yet that is ALL he does. That's all his presidency has been: one big constant campaign. He has traveled by far more than any other president. He travels just to travel for crying out loud!
Obama really is one mental nut job!!! NO wonder the Loons from the Left idolize him so.
Posted by: John D | July 29, 2010 1:40 PM
BO: "we shouldnt be campaigning all the time" Then quit campaigning you moron!!!! One things for sure he fit right in with the cackling old hens on that stupid show. It might be funny if he wasnt such an embarrassment.
Posted by: Libtard | July 29, 2010 1:53 PM
The president who campaigns all the time claims "we shouldn't be campaigning all the time"!
Does anyone take seriously what this man says?
Posted by: Equal time | July 29, 2010 1:57 PM
Whackjob Rob said...
=-----------------------------=
Pres Obama needs to do more of this. This is a great way for him to bypass the Right Wing Noise Machine and speak directly to the American people,
=----------------------------=
Obama would never participate in a venue where he would have to answer the hard question. He only takes softball questions since he is a President that is soft and has no balls. So you are saying speaking directly to the Amercian people means you have to go on the View? How about a state of the union address Rob? But since so many people remain unemployed thanks to a second stimulus that is an utter failure I guess you can speak to the American people on daytime TV since most of them STILL DON'T HAVE A JOB!!!
Posted by: conservativemaster | July 29, 2010 4:06 PM
Posted by: Libtard | July 29, 2010 1:53 PM
Posted by: Equal time | July 29, 2010 1:57 PM
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Swamp Troll,
You're right, Pres Obama doesn't need to campaign. He should just put on a flight suit, land on an aircraft carrier and announce - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushfighterpilot.htm
Posted by: Rob | July 29, 2010 4:50 PM
Posted by: John D | July 29, 2010 1:40 PM
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Lil Johnny Meatball,
Aren't you supposed to be working the Drive-thru window at the Streamwood MickyD's today, or is this your day off?
Traveling is what President's are supposed to do, you clown. They aren't supposed to spend nearly half of their time in office pretending to cut brush at their fake ranch in Texas.
George Dubya Bush Sets Presidential Record for Vacation Time.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/19/politics/bush_legacy/main4735360.shtml
Posted by: Rob | July 29, 2010 4:58 PM
"We shouldn't be campaigning all the time, but I am campaigning all the time but I just don't call it campaigning I call it 'governing', see, so it's not really campaigning."
.
Sheesh!
.
Posted by: Just sayin' | July 29, 2010 5:28 PM
Posted by: Just sayin' | July 29, 2010 5:28 PM
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Swamp Troll,
You've already said the exact same thing twice on here with your other sock-puppets. We get it that you hate Pres Obama because he's a Dem and he's black. Try coming up with some new right wing Obams lies and propaganda for me to smack down, would ya?
Posted by: Rob | July 29, 2010 6:15 PM
BO doesn't know who is Snooki is (neither do I), but then he uses her(?) in a reference in a speech. I guess if the teleprompter shows it, he will read it.
Trickled On Rob,
Like the other rocket scientists on the panel - Whoopi, Behar, Baba, and Shepard are not quite Mensa members.
Would BO even know how to put on a flight suit?
Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
Posted by: Terry | July 29, 2010 6:26 PM
Obama Speaks! John! GOP! TEA PARTY! Sarah! Glenn! Rush! The Campaign is over! Jon! Boehner and the Blunt! The Election is over! Been over! JUST NOT! The GOP Coup de Tau Recession, post Bush/Cheney Double-GOP DIP Recession! Glenn! Sarah! Pawlenty! Mitt the quit in a time of the War on Terror! The election is over! I'm not running! While walking SB1070 GOP America TEA Party YOU LIE! YOU LIE! Pence! Kantor! The Election is over! The Campaign is over! SB1070 is over! Keep the Cars Coming is over!
Posted by: Roger Morris | July 29, 2010 10:04 PM
Yeah right!!! B.S. Barry the double talker saying one thing and then doing the EXACT OPPOSITE. Funny how he sound WITHOUT a teleprompter.
Posted by: senator dirksen | July 29, 2010 11:18 PM
Rob, the only thing you smack of is being racist. You are the only one here that insults people by race. That makes you a racist. You are the only one here that uses multiple posting names. How sad. It's the only way that you can get another poster to agree with you by having multiple personalities.
Posted by: Free To Watch the Liberal's Summer Meltdown | July 30, 2010 3:04 AM
It was great to see our President, President Obama, out there communicating with our nation. He should make more of these appearances, in spite of what Gov. Rendell has said. The nation needs to hear President Obama's side of the story instead of Corporate America's version of the truth !! Way to go, Prez!! Keep beating back those Corporate dogs and greedy Republican-Libertarian-T.Baggers!! They are a scourge on our nation !!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | July 30, 2010 8:27 AM
[quote]
Obama would never participate in a venue where he would have to answer the hard question. He only takes softball questions
.
Posted by: conservativemaster | July 29, 2010 4:06 PM
[/quote]
.
.
You mean like the way Sarah Palin refuses to appear anywhere other than on Fox News?
Posted by: BC | July 30, 2010 12:23 PM
You mean like the way Sarah Palin refuses to appear anywhere other than on Fox News?
Posted by: BC | July 30, 2010 12:23 PM
She really scares you doesn't she. She is not the acting president of the country, you moron, so she doesn't have to answer hard questions. You Libs try and justifiy your masters actions or lack there of in the dumbest possible ways.
Posted by: Lost in Space Donny from Plainfield | July 30, 2010 12:47 PM
You mean like the way Sarah Palin refuses to appear anywhere other than on Fox News?
Posted by: BC | July 30, 2010 12:23 PM
---------------------------------
Last time I checked Sarah Palin is not holding a political office these days nor is or ever will be the President. Obama holds press conferences but either screens the questions or takes no questions at all. But he does have time to go on this stupid show. When Elizabeth asked him where the jobs were & he said they were there, I would have asked him why each of these jobs created are so expensive in terms of stimulus dollars spent per job. Obama has no proof that the actions he has taken have done anything at all except ring up debt.
Posted by: conservativemaster | July 30, 2010 1:06 PM
Mongrels in the White House!
. . . “When asked about his background, which includes a black father and white mother, Obama said of African-Americans: ‘We are sort of a mongrel people.’ ” He elaborated, “I mean we’re all kinds of mixed up. That’s actually true of white people as well, but we just know more about it. “
He further added, “there’s still a reptilian side of our brain” that leads people to not trust others “if somebody sounds different or looks different.” http://tiny.cc/ng72i
Huh? Mongrels? Reptiles? This is the president of the United States speaking?
Those off-the-cuff remarks are notable on a number of levels. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1814
Posted by: Berlet98 | July 30, 2010 5:43 PM
BC,
Would you consider this a racist remark?
"We (African-Americans) are sort of a mongrel people."
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/111611-obama-calls-african-americans-a-mongrel-people-
Posted by: Terry | July 30, 2010 7:30 PM
Posted by: Lost in Space Donny from Plainfield | July 30, 2010 12:47 PM
'
'
She "scares" me Donnie because millions of idiots like you were willing to put her one heartbeat away from the nuclear launch codes. She wasn't willing to answer hard questions then, she isn't now, and she'll continue to avoid the hard questions when she runs for her next political office.
Posted by: BC | July 31, 2010 11:27 AM
Before CommonSense,
And you have Speaker Dimwit two heart beats from those nuclear buttons. I'll take Palin over Pelousy any day of the week.
Posted by: Terry | August 2, 2010 9:59 AM