Obama: Not All Tea Partiers "On The Fringe"

Asked in an interview with NBC News this morning about the Tea Party movement, President Obama deemed it a "loose amalgam of forces" and differentiated between the more extreme elements of the group and those who he said "have legitimate concerns."

The extreme elements, he said, existed before he was elected, and include those who "weren't sure whether I was born in the United States, whether I was a socialist." That segment, he said, is "dug in ideologically" and unlikely to be swayed.

The "broader circle around that core group," he said, include those who "are legitimately concerned about the deficit, who are legitimately concerned that the federal government may be taking on too much." The president said the emergency measures taken by the government to help the economy, such as the auto bailout, "fed that sense that things are out of control."

"And I think those are folks who have legitimate concerns," said the president. "...And my hope is is that as we move forward and we're tackling things like the deficit, and imposing a freeze on domestic spending, and taking steps that show we're sincere about dealing with our long-term problems that some of that group will dissipate." By contrast, the "core group" that questions his legitimacy will likely never be convinced, he said.

Mr. Obama also said in the interview that sitting in the Oval Office has made him "much more sympathetic to all presidents generally" because he has experienced the necessity of making hard choices. Asked about political polarization, he said movement toward a more polarized politics goes back through Presidents Bush and Clinton.

Part of the problem, Mr. Obama said, is "how the media covers politics, in the 24/7 news cycle, cable chatter and talk radio and the Internet and the blogs, all of which try to feed the most extreme sides of any issue instead of trying to narrow differences and solve problems."

He said he was frustrated by unified Republican opposition to the health care reform bill -- which, he said, contained a number of the same elements that exist in the plan Mitt Romney, a Republican, signed into law as Massachusetts governor. "Their attitude is, look, if we stop this bill and we stop this president here, then that will give us a lot of political benefit in November," he said.

But he didn't cast all the blame on the GOP.

"There's no doubt that Democrats are known to play the same game, which is to exaggerate the venality of the other side," he said, adding that his "working assumption is that [Republicans] are doing what they think is best for the country."

That's an assumption all Democrats should share, he suggested, adding that both sides should work "to set the tone, to not exaggerate what the other side is trying to do, to not suggest that they're bad people, to assume that they want what's best for America even if we disagree on the particular approach."

On Israel, the president said the underlying relationship between the U.S. and Israel is "solid as a rock" despite the recent diplomatic dustup over Israel's decision to build settlements in East Jerusalem. He said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu "intellectually understands that he has got to take some bold steps" and that the Palestinians have to do the same. "This is a disagreement among friends about how to move forward," Mr. Obama said.

He also said he and his family decided not to join a specific church because they did not want to be disruptive of services. He told Matt Lauer that his favorite place to worship is the chapel at Camp David, and noted he gets a daily devotional on his BlackBerry.

The president discussed the adjustment to White House life of his daughters Sasha and Malia, saying they have been relatively free to lead normal lives.

"I get a little worried about them when they're teenagers because I think that's the time when you're already embarrassed about your parents," he said. "And then imagine if your dad's in the newspaper every day and people are calling him an idiot. So I feel a little worried about that."