Politico: OBAMA ADDRESSES HARSH CRITICISM
By PATRICK GAVIN | 4/1/10 4:04 PM EDT
[KLP Note: This 'interview' is beyond sickening. I've never before thought of ANY President of the US as a 'hack'....but that's all that will describe this interview. A narcissistic hack. Obviously he hasn't ever listened to Limbaugh nor Beck....maybe Savage could change his mind. Personally, I think Savage is so bad, I can't listen to him. Obama is so dainty, he would have to put on an entire flack body suit if he did. What a sad state of affairs in which we find ourselves!
The interview with Obama will air on Friday’s Early Show and Saturday’s NCAA pre-game show. | Photo by APClose
CBS News spent the day at the White House, interviewing and playing basketball with President Barack Obama for segments on Friday’s Early Show and Saturday’s NCAA pre-game show.
POLITICO obtained a partial transcript of the broadcasts, and one of the more provocative questions posed by CBS’s Harry Smith involved some of the harsh criticism Obama has endured from the edges of the political spectrum.
"I’ve been listening to talk radio, the kindest of terms is a socialist, worst of which I’ve heard is you called a Nazi, are you aware of the level of enmity that crosses the airwaves about you?" asked Smith.
"Well I think that when you listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck, it's pretty apparent, but keep in mind that there have been periods in American history where this kind of vitriol comes out," said Obama. "It happens often when you've got an economy that is making people more anxious, but that's not the vast majority of Americans. I think vast majority of Americans know that we're trying hard. I want what's best for the country. They may disagree on certain policy issues but I didn't buy all the hype right after inauguration where everybody was only saying nice things about me and I don't get too worried when things aren't going as well because I know that, over time, these things turn.
"I do think that everybody has a responsibility — Democrats or Republicans — to tone down some of this rhetoric, some of these comments. …It used to be that someone who said something crazy, they might be saying it to their next door neighbor or it might be on some late night AM station at the very end of the radio dial and now with the blogs, it ends up getting a lot more attention and you guys end up covering it a lot more.
It's not as if there haven't been a lot of crazy things said out and about over the years, it's just that it gets much more magnified much more quickly."
And in a basketball-related question that will naturally be perceived as a political analogy, Smith asked Obama, "Mr. President, the question everyone wants to know is — can you go to your right?"
"I can go to my right, but I prefer my left," Obama said.
Smith and Obama were joined on the court by CBS Sports’ lead college basketball analyst, Clark Kellogg
politico.com |
