Obama talks race, pop culture on 'The View'

Jul 29, 2010 — Boston Herald

Mark A. Perigard

Jul. 29, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Someone turned up the power on the dimbulb.

That was the lone surprise of Barack Obama's dubious history-making appearance on ABC's "The View," as he became the first sitting president to appear on a daytime talk show.

Resident conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck, while cordial, did not join in the fawning of her fellow cohosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Sherri Shepherd, who actually seemed to be giggling herself silly at a few points during the hour.

Hasselbeck pressed him on the lack of jobs in America, noting that in her home state of Rhode Island, unemployment runs at 12 percent.

"How can you continue to say your administration is saving jobs?"

He defended his stimulus package, saying millions more jobs would have been lost without it.

She did not relent on the issue.

Much later in the hour, when Obama promised that more young people would be graduating from college, she interjected, "Will they have jobs when they get out of there?"

She also wondered if he was frustrated about his inability to bring people together.

"We live at a time when people are thinking about the next election and not the next generation," he replied. "We can disagree without being disagreeable."

Her questions were compelling all the more for simply being coherent. It was a "View" like no other: The five co-hosts -- Barbara Walters interrupted her medical leave for heart surgery to return for the occasion -- listened respectfully. There was no climbing over each other to yap over this guest.

Obama cited his administration's handling of the economy, health care and the H1N1 pandemic as major accomplishments.

He repeatedly criticized a media culture that thrives on controversy. Behar criticized Fox News for "hijacking the narrative."

Obama replied, "I volunteered for this job. Politics is not bean bag. Politics is a contact sport."

The worst part of his job gets little attention, he said: Signing all those letters of sympathy to parents and spouses whose loved ones who have been killed in Afghanistan

Not all the questions were serious. Quizzed about pop culture, Obama said he is aware Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan sits in jail.

He seemed confused by a question about Mel Gibson.

His iPod holds a mix of music from Maria Callas to Frank Sinatra to Jay-Z. He has never heard of Snooki of MTV's "Jersey Shore."

Why did Obama decide to appear on "The View" in the first place?

"Look, I was trying to find a show that (First Lady) Michelle actually watched, and so I thought this is it, right here," he told the hosts at the top of the hour.

Somewhere, Oprah Winfrey is pulling out her hair.

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