An Interview With The President

By: Mark Knoller
Topics: Field Notes

(White House Photo)

CBS News White House correspondents Peter Maer (top left) and Mark Knoller (bottom left) interviewed President Bush in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

We had to wait nearly an hour for President Bush to enter the Roosevelt Room for our radio interview.

But actually, we'd been waiting more than seven years.

My colleague Peter Maer and I have been pitching the White House to grant us an interview with the president since the year he took office.

Most recently, we were told that Mr. Bush doesn't like doing radio interviews. He doesn't think his comments get a fair shake when we only use "snippets" of what he says in our radio reports and on the hourly radio newscasts.

Well, that's the nature of the business. But through the magic of this podcast, you can hear everything thing he said, in the context in which he said it.

We were given 15 minutes, and tried to wring every nanosecond out of it.

Click here to listen to the entire interview with President Bush.

Peter began with the Mideast – where President Bush begins a five-day visit on Wednesday. He still thinks – that before he leaves office - he can get Israel and the Palestinians to "define" the framework of a Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace with Israel.

But he won't have a three-way meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas. What should we construe from that?

"Nothing," he said.

He thinks separate meetings produce more progress.

Earlier in the day, the first U.S. planeload of relief supplies was finally allowed to land in Myanmar – more than a week after a cyclone ravaged the Southeast Asian nation. He blasts the military regime in that country – which the Administration still refers to by its pre-junta name of Burma – for not moving quicker to allow foreign aid into the country.

He called it "another reason why the world ought to be angry and condemn the government."

"Here they are with a major catastrophe on their hands and do not allow there to be the full kind of might of a compassionate world to help 'em."

He said there's "no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response."

He said the regime leaders are either "isolated or callous."

On the soaring prices of oil and gasoline, he declined to speculate on how high they would go.

He explained why he doesn't appeal to Americans to drive less to conserve energy. He said consumers can figure it out by themselves.

And he disagrees with those in and out of Congress blaming the big oil companies for rising prices and shortages.

"If you don't have a solution – step one is to blame somebody else," he said before adding, "That's politics. It's been that way -- anytime the price of oil goes up they blame somebody."

And he disagrees with calls for a windfall profits tax on Big Oil, saying "what I'd like to see is the cash being generated as a result of higher energy prices put back in the ground so that we can have more supply."

He said that would benefit consumers "a lot more than the government taking that money and growing the size of government."

The interview gave us a chance to ask the president questions we've been collecting for years.

I wanted to know why he never acted on the recommendations of his advisory panel on reforming the tax code. In running for re-election, he often said the tax code is "a complicated mess." He still thinks that way – but says he didn't find the political will needed in Congress to pursue it further.

We also asked him about competing claims from the campaign trail by those seeking to be his successor about which candidate is best ready on "Day One" to be president.

"You can't possibly understand what it's like until you're actually in the Oval Office," he said.

And take a listen to the podcast to hear why he thinks its tougher to be the son of a president than to be president.

Or you can listen to the "snippet" on the radio.

Mark Knoller
Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent.
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by neoconrcrazy May 13, 2008 1:58 PM EDT: Useless interview, non-questions, barney rubble answers....

650''000 dead iraqis, 4000+ americans, and they call this an interview?

i am sure all the "questions" were vetted.

F- cbs; Reply to this comment


by lochlan-2009 May 13, 2008 1:10 PM EDT: Real tough questions CBS, and it took you seven years to get an interview? Keep up the lame work.; Reply to this comment


by mcvet May 13, 2008 12:19 PM EDT: What he needs to consider is something that happened almost 50 years ago. It was called "operation *******" go ahead and google it. It slaps the mexican government in the face and gives us the jobs we need to help this sagging economy.

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Posted by azman80 at 07:03 AM : May 13, 2008
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You know I know at least 200 people in the Chicago Area who have lost their jobs in the last Administration... not ONE... I repeat NOT ONE is because of someone uneducated Mexican. ALL are because of TRICKLE DOWN and "Free" Trade...they are all in THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES! Sieg Heil Bush; Reply to this comment


by mcvet May 13, 2008 12:17 PM EDT: Imagine someone leaving Communist China and coming to America to live and reading idiotic comments like yours. They would laugh in your face. Stop being so stupid and naive and grow up!

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Posted by andersonk49 at 07:54 AM : May 13, 2008
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God where do you Nazi''s come from? Here we have a piece of human scum who LIED to the American People...they are documented on LINE!! 935 times in a TWO year period he OUT RIGHT LIED!! He KNEW Iraq was no threat! He KNEW there was NO reason to remove those inspectors! HE LIED to all of us about it and we have this fascist bootlicker on here DEFENDING the lies. People like this have NEVER been there... have NO IDEA why the policy of the US has always been that they are not used unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY! Folks these veterans who return and blow their brains out KNOW what Combat is about... this swastika hugger has NO idea! Sieg Heil Bush!! Come on Bootlicker...show all those families out there you REALLY care! SIEG HEIL MEIN FUHRER!! Good bootlicker!!; Reply to this comment


by commonsense4once May 13, 2008 10:54 AM EDT: 252 days left in office for additional mischief and pardons.
Posted by mjlewis6 at 07:24 PM : May 12, 2008

You are a fool with your ideas of a pretty little America tied up with pink ribbons and lollypops for all. Idiot! Democracies are always born of violence. You actually think that we can play nice around the world and the world will just be sugarland. The freedom you enjoy to sit back and give your inane, foolish armchair opinions was hard fought for and requires a lot of "getting your hands dirty" to maintain. Well, of course idiot countries like France can sit back and make all the judgements they like because they know that we, being their allies ,ensures their continued freedom as well. You wouldn''t know a corrupt government from a candy store. Imagine someone leaving Communist China and coming to America to live and reading idiotic comments like yours. They would laugh in your face. Stop being so stupid and naive and grow up!; Reply to this comment


by sleepyric May 13, 2008 10:13 AM EDT: I started to read this, and about 3 paragraphs in, I thought..'' why am I wasting time reading anything about what this dumb $hit has to say....251 days to go....''; Reply to this comment


by azman80 May 13, 2008 10:03 AM EDT: What he needs to consider is something that happened almost 50 years ago. It was called "operation *******" go ahead and google it. It slaps the mexican government in the face and gives us the jobs we need to help this sagging economy.; Reply to this comment


by Gary Kempf May 13, 2008 10:02 AM EDT: God forbid, CBS news actually challenge Bush to answer questions on his pathedic two terms as President of the United States.....; Reply to this comment


by sistatee-2009 May 13, 2008 6:20 AM EDT: It''s tough to be the son of a president? ARE THEY FORECLOSING ON THE WHITE HOUSE! What a f''ing moron!; Reply to this comment


by colo-ra-do May 13, 2008 6:10 AM EDT: Whut Amureca hez ta unerstan.....

You got it thisandthat! Which disaster are we referring to?; Reply to this comment