Obama Out-Foxes O’Reilly
By Jonathan Capehart, WashPost, Updated: February 3 at 12:49 pm
The pre-Super Bowl interview with President Obama conducted by Bill O’Reilly yesterday was not only notable for the Fox News anchor’s constant interruptions, but also for his harping on old news. The travails of HealthCare.gov, the murderous attacks in Benghazi and the actions taken by the IRS against conservative groups chewed up 9 minutes and 45 seconds of the 10-minute sitdown.
We all know that those topics are nothing but chum for O’Reilly’s anti-Obama audience. But the president successfully avoided the rhetorical traps set by the ambassador from “fair and balanced.” And he respectfully stood up to the disrespect demanded by said audience by giving as good as he got.
The conversation about the failure of the HealthCare.gov launch focused on what did the president know and when did he know it. O’Reilly spun his tires trying to get Obama to explain why Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius hasn’t been fired. And the newsman tried get the president to admit that “biggest mistake of your presidency [was] to tell the nation over and over, if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.”
No doubt, the rollout of the Obamacare Web site was a disaster. But the president said exactly what he should have said.
(More here.)
The pre-Super Bowl interview with President Obama conducted by Bill O’Reilly yesterday was not only notable for the Fox News anchor’s constant interruptions, but also for his harping on old news. The travails of HealthCare.gov, the murderous attacks in Benghazi and the actions taken by the IRS against conservative groups chewed up 9 minutes and 45 seconds of the 10-minute sitdown.
We all know that those topics are nothing but chum for O’Reilly’s anti-Obama audience. But the president successfully avoided the rhetorical traps set by the ambassador from “fair and balanced.” And he respectfully stood up to the disrespect demanded by said audience by giving as good as he got.
The conversation about the failure of the HealthCare.gov launch focused on what did the president know and when did he know it. O’Reilly spun his tires trying to get Obama to explain why Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius hasn’t been fired. And the newsman tried get the president to admit that “biggest mistake of your presidency [was] to tell the nation over and over, if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.”
No doubt, the rollout of the Obamacare Web site was a disaster. But the president said exactly what he should have said.
(More here.)
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