Obama on 'The View': Were hosts too easy on him?
President Obama was on 鈥�The View鈥� Tuesday, in case you haven鈥檛 heard. It was his fourth time on the couch of ABC鈥檚 multihost daytime chat show, and he looked comfortable, as you might expect. He joshed with Barbara Walters about her habit of keeping presidential napkins from White House visits (鈥淵ou鈥檙e stealing our stuff!鈥�). And , that Sherri Shepherd was the 鈥淰iew鈥� panelist who recently appeared on 鈥�Dancing With the Stars.鈥�
But did 鈥淭he View鈥� go too easy on him? Let鈥檚 be clear: We鈥檙e not implying that the hosts can鈥檛 be tough questioners. We would not want Ms. Walters to interrogate us about snack-food habits, much less our approach to Medicare policy. However, it may be that the format of the show allows a skilled politician a lot of control over the message.
The show jumps from host to host, each with a different topic to discuss. Follow-ups are limited, before the show moves on to the next point. That made it difficult for even resident conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck to pin Mr. Obama down.
(OK, the show is just like a White House press conference in this regard, only on a different scale. But that鈥檚 another conversation.)
Take Obama鈥檚 recent statement in favor of gay marriage as an example. some good questions: Would he push a federal bill legalizing same-sex marriage? Would he work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as something that occurs between one man and one woman?
Obama answered by talking at first about the reasons he鈥檇 come out in support of gay marriage. In part, this was due to personal experience with gay couples.
鈥淭hey said to me, 'You know what, the words matter.... Civil unions aren鈥檛 sufficient,' 鈥� said Obama.
Fine. But what about working to change the law?
鈥淐ongress is clearly on notice that I think it鈥檚 a bad idea,鈥� he said, which is actually a non-answer. And then, before Walters could trap him like a stray White House napkin, 鈥淭he View鈥� veered into another topic.
Similarly, Whoopi Goldberg let Obama get away without on financial-markets reform. Citing the recent $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan, Ms. Goldberg asked if the president will hold anyone responsible. 鈥淭his has to be the last straw,鈥� she said.
Obama responded by saying that the loss showed why he had pushed for passage of the Dodd-Frank financial-markets reform act. This raised capital requirements to enable banks to withstand such floods of red ink, and it made it against the law for banks to take big bets in derivative markets with their own funds.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make bets on your own trades with your own money,鈥� Obama said of the banks.
Well, the trade that cost JPMorgan all that cash looked a lot like just such a bet, but it fell within a Dodd-Frank exception allowing banks to hedge against losses. Why was it still legal? There鈥檚 a follow-up that didn鈥檛 get asked, because the next host to seize control of the show went in a different direction.
We know we鈥檙e being a little pedantic here: 鈥淭he View鈥� isn鈥檛 鈥�Meet the Press.鈥� It isn鈥檛 even 鈥�Charlie Rose.鈥� We have nothing against learning that Obama likes guacamole and corn chips, or will watch any kind of sport on TV, even luge. It isn鈥檛 bad to humanize America鈥檚 leaders.
But Obama recently has been accusing the US media of a 鈥渓ack of gravitas,鈥� according to a story in Politico on Wednesday. The president complained of a 鈥渟teady stream of sensationalism and scandal鈥� in his address Monday at Barnard College in New York, for instance.
The Politico piece quotes a former White House press adviser to the effect that Obama likes The New York Times because he thinks they鈥檙e serious.
鈥淗e thinks the rest of you guys aren鈥檛,鈥� the adviser .
Point taken. But from our years in Washington, we鈥檒l note that in general, the biggest problem that presidential administrations end up having with the press is not that it isn鈥檛 serious enough, but that it is an unruly, unpredictable hound they find difficult to control.
