'My definition of leadership is leading on climate change'
sounded more like an SNL spoof somebody would do on Obama rather than actual words coming from the leader of the Free World. If it weren't so serious, it would be almost humorous that the Obama considers 'climate change' the key leadership issue, as he told Steve Croft on 60 Minutes October 11 in what was perhaps the first real 'grilling' of Obama by the mainstream media since Obama took office seven years ago. Many have felt that Obama has had a 'free pass' from what many consider the 'left-leaning' mainstream media during his entire presidency. Not so this time - what may be a piece of history, the one and only interview of its kind.
Steve Croft, 60 Minutes First Mainstream Media To Grill Obama, Make Him Squirm
STEVE MALZBERG offers key excerpts of the interview, such as the first clip where Croft questions the $500 million given for training Syrian soldiers which resulted in a total of five being trained.
Other topics that would appear to get under Obama's skin would include:
- Russia's Putin taking over world leadership of the Middle East War in Syria and Iraq.Croft to Obama 'Mr Putin seems to be challenging your leadership ' at which point Obama makes an exagerated grimace. Croft backs his question with a series of facts and figures to which Obama seems to evade with a long, rambling answer.
Says Malzberg, 'Nobody treats Obama this way and gets away with it.' Well, Steve Croft and 60 Minutes did, and probably for the first and last time. Doubt Obama will be back on 60 Minutes anytime soon, if ever.
As to whether that attention will evaporate, the president declines to speculate. "I'll leave it up to the pundits to make that determination," Obama says. "I don't think he'll end up being president of the United States."
At different moments in the interview, the president turns reflective, taking stock of his time in office and eyeing the year ahead. In the unaired clip below, he tells Kroft that, at this point, he's learned to trust his instincts.
"The nice thing about being a veteran in anything is your fear kind of goes away," he says. "There's no doubt I'm better at this job now than I was when I started."
At the end of the interview, Kroft asks Obama if he's glad he can't run for president again. Obama says he feels a mixture of satisfaction at what he's accomplished and a desire to still do more. "But by the time I'm finished, I think it will be time for me to go," he says, adding that new blood in the White House is essential for a healthy democracy.
"Do you think if you ran again, could run again, and did run again, you would be elected?" Kroft asks.
"Yes," says Obama, without missing a beat.
From Breitbart:
A frustrated President Obama reacted angrily to tough questions during an interview aired last night from CBS interviewer Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes.
Regarding Syria and ISIS, Kroft pointed out that it had already been a year since Obama announced military action in the region with little signs of progress.
Obama was dismissive of the notion that it was his job to eliminate ISIS.
“Over time, the community of nations will all get rid of them, and we will be leading getting rid of them,” he said.
When challenged over his failed $500 million training program for fighters in Syria, Obama quickly added that he was “skeptical from the beginning” but that it was important to “try different things.”
As Obama expressed skepticism about multiple theoretical solutions for the Middle East including training or arming Syrian rebels, he remarked that there were no “silver bullets” in Syria.
“I feel like I’m being filibustered Mr. President,” Kroft interrupted.
“No, no, no, no, no. Steve,” Obama replied with a flash of annoyance. “I think if you want to roll back the tape, you’ve been giving me long questions and statements, and now I’m responding to ‘em. So let’s — so — if you ask me big, open-ended questions, expect big, open-ended answers.
When challenged over Putin, Obama dismissed the idea that somehow he was outmaneuvered even though he admitted that intelligence indicated that they knew he would act in Syria.
“He’s challenging your leadership Mr. President,” Kroft said, prompting a strong reaction from Obama.
“Steve, I gotta tell you, if you think that running your economy into the ground and having to send troops in, in order to prop up your only ally is leadership, then we’ve got a different definition of leadership,” he said. “My definition of leadership would be leading on climate change, an international accord that potentially we’ll get in Paris.”
Obama insisted that his critics would only be content if thousands of American troops and trillions of American dollars would continue to be spent in the region to try to solve the political situation in the Middle East and combat Putin.
After the contentious interview, Kroft informed his viewers that the pair halted the interview for a water break before resuming their conversation.
“What else do you got?” Obama challenged Kroft with a grin as the interview resumed.
Perhaps Obama was surprised by Kroft’s unusual toughness, after years of 60 Minutes interviews where he was allowed to answer questions at his own pace. The most surprising portion of the interview was hearing Kroft repeatedly interrupting the president and pressing him on foreign policy.
A frequent interviewer of the president, Kroft has been mocked by critics for giving Obama softball questions, allowing him to distract from the questions by lengthy responses.
After Kroft sat down with both Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2013 to discuss the nature of their relationship, many journalists marveled at the coziness that Kroft was experiencing with the Obama White House.
The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf called that interview “a performance that ought to earn him a rebuke from his peers in the news business.”
Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan described that interview as “so soft, so dazzled, so supportive, so embarrassing.”
Other journalists recalled a 2013 interview with Piers Morgan where Kroft admitted that “we’re not going to play ‘gotcha’ with him” and that 60 Minutes was “not going to go out of our way to make him look bad or stupid.” “We’ll let him answer the questions,” he said.
Now that Obama is in the fourth quarter of his presidency, perhaps Kroft decided it was time to turn up the heat. But after last night’s contentious interview, it will be interesting to see if Kroft ever interviews this president again.
Steve Croft, 60 Minutes First Mainstream Media To Grill Obama, Make Him Squirm
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