President Barack Obama on Wednesday reflected on 20 months of crises that have plagued his administration and praised the inspiration he draws from the American people as he taped a rare interview with a daytime television talk show.
Obama’s appearance on ABC’s “The View” — which is presented by a panel including veteran journalist Barbara Walters and actress Whoopi Goldberg — will be shown in full on Thursday at 11:00am EST.
In excerpts released by the network, Obama tells the panel it is “fun” to be on the show for the first time since he became president.
Walters says: “But you know you’ve gone through a little bit of a beating the last month. Do you really think that being on a show with a bunch of women, five women who never shut up, is going to be calming?”
Obama replies: “Look, I was trying to find a show that [First Lady] Michelle [Obama] actually watched and so I thought this is it, right here. All those new shows she’s like, ‘eh, let me get the clicker.'”
The president is then asked to reflect on a difficult past 20 months for his administration.
“Where do I begin here?” he jokes.
The challenges included, “a non-stop effort to restart the economy, we have also had the oil spill, we have also had two wars, we have also had a pandemic — H1N1 that we had to manage,” he explains.
“What has been gratifying is the fact that the economy now is starting to stabilize and grow again and what’s been satisfying is seeing how resilient the American people are.
“As much as you said it’s been tough for me, the truth is it’s not tough for me, you know I’ve got people, pundits on the news who may say things about me…”
Walters: “You’ve noticed?”
Obama: “Of course, you think about what the American people have gone through losing jobs, seeing their home values go down, their 401Ks [retirement savings plans] declining, those are the folks who I draw inspiration from because I get letters every night from them and I read them and as tough as it’s been they remain hopeful, they remain optimistic about America and so I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about me. I spend a lot of time worrying about them.”
On a brighter note, the president nominated a weekend vacation in Maine this month with his daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, as one of his recent highlights.
“We went on bike rides and hikes and the girls are getting old enough now where they’re not quite teenagers yet, so they still like you, but they are full of opinions and ideas and observations and it’s just a great age,” he said.
Obama earlier held an event at a sandwich store in New Jersey to promote his small business plan and was later to attend two fundraisers in New York City for his Democratic Party.