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In a rare and much-anticipated interview with Fox News--President Obama and Fox News' Bret Baier discussed health care, Mideast peace, and Tiger Woods. Or at least, they tried to.
The interview is being dubbed everything from "unusual" to downright disrespectful--as many in the media are focused less on what was said--than how it was said.
BAEIR: "So how can you guarantee, that they're--"
OBAMA: "Let, let--Bret. Bret. So--"
BAIER: "--that they're gonna--"
OBAMA: "So, so the notion---"
BAEIR: "--be able to keep their doctors?"
OBAMA: "Bret, you gotta let me finish my answers."
BAEIR: "But sir, I know you don't like to filibuster, sir."
OBAMA: "Well--"
BAIER: "So, I--"
OBAMA: "Well, I'm trying to answer your questions, but you keep on interrupting."
As he wrapped up the interview, Baeir apologized for the interruptions--but said he wanted to "get the most bang" for his buck.
Newsweek's Kate Connolly says the interview must have been frustrating for both--but that Baeir was just irritating.
"Obama has a tendency to be long winded, especially when talking about health care. But anyone who has tried to talk seriously about the subject knows that is nigh impossible to do so in the space of a soundbite without being inaccurate."
But the Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik says Baeir came prepared--and it showed.
"I also praise Baier for ... hitting a very difficult tone of being appropriately aggressive without being hectoring or rude. It was a textbook encounter of how the press should engage the executive branch of government. Think of it as the antidote to NBC anchorman Brian Williams..."
Finally, we leave you with more of the so-called "Interrupt-a-thon". But first--MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell's take.
"The interruptions were unusual both because as I've said most news organizations tend to defer to the office of the president in matters of conversational decorum in that kind of setting. And also because it is just impossible to imagine anyone from Fox interrupting former President Bush or Vice President Cheney."
Writer/Producer: Newsy Staff
