All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Oprah Winfrey will interview President Obama for a holiday special on ABC called "Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special," the Live Feed reports.

The talk show host, who recently announced that she would end her show in two years, is fresh off a high-profile sit down with former GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The special with the president will reportedly include the interview with Mr. Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as well as a White House tour.

The special is scheduled to air on Sunday, December 13th.

Winfrey backed Mr. Obama during the presidential campaign, breaking with her longtime practice of remaining neutral in elections.

Damon Weaver made his name in journalism with a campaign-time interview of then-Vice Presidential wannabe Joe Biden. Now, a veteran reporter at the age of 11, the Florida boy sat down at the White House to pepper the President himself on issues important to American kids.

Weaver admitted to being a bit nervous as he waited for the nation's leader to enter the Diplomatic Room. However, for the remainder of the nine minute "dream" interview, which appeared Thursday night on YouTube, his nerves never betrayed him.

The reporter, who has doubtless become something more of a media star than his position at Kathryn E. Cunningham Canal Point Elementary's KEC-TV initially promised, first prodded the Commander in Chief to reveal details of his upcoming education reform plans.

Read full post…

CBS News' Katie Couric used part of her exclusive interview with President Barack Obama today to ask him about a David Brooks column in today's New York Times. Brooks argues that the president has over-interpreted his mandate and is letting Nancy Pelosi lead the Democrats on a "suicide march."

Mr. Obama's response – besides a bit of a ribbing of Couric for excerpting so much of the Brooks column in her question – was that he's not too worried about what Brooks thinks.

Read full post…

The White House has released a transcript of President Obama's interview with AllAfrica.com in which Mr. Obama discusses the objectives behind his first presidential visit to Ghana this Saturday.

The interview was published July 2 on Allafrica.com, the largest online distributor of African news.

Mr. Obama said he picked Ghana as the first destination on his trip to sub-Saharan Africa because he wanted to highlight the country’s success as a democratic nation.

"Ghana has now undergone a couple of successful elections in which power was transferred peacefully, even a very close election," Mr. Obama said. "I think that there is a direct correlation between governance and prosperity. Countries that are governed well, that are stable, where the leadership recognizes that they are accountable to the people and that institutions are stronger than any one person have a track record of producing results for the people."

The president made clear that he hopes to encourage Ghanaians by publicly acknowledging the success of the country’s recent leadership.
He said he understands that not every country will transition smoothly to democracy, citing his father's native land of Kenya as an example of "backsliding."

Read full post…

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been unusually candid about his affair with a 41-year-old former reporter in Argentina.

In stark contrast to the taciturn Eliot Spitzer – who made no mention at all of his escapades as "Client 9" except opening his resignation speech with a reference to his "private failings" – Sanford held forth at length with reporters last week, describing how the affair came about and at one point prefacing an answer with, "To give you way more detail than you'll ever want…"

Then there were the e-mails. Perhaps Sanford shouldn't be judged on those, given that they were private communications. Serious questions remain about how South Carolina's State newspaper came to posses and publish them.

But never fear. The (new) Love Gov was back at it today, telling an Associated Press reporter that “This was a whole lot more than a simple affair. That it's a love story – a forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.”

Read full post…

In an interview with CBS News' Harry Smith, President Obama said he is "very concerned" with the thrust of the statements made today by Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supporting the country's disputed election results.

“And I'm very concerned based on some of the tenor -- and tone of the statements that have been made -- that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching," the president told Smith. "And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is and -- and is not.”

More excerpts from the interview will be broadcast on tonight's CBS "Evening News." CBS' "Sunday Morning" will air the portion of the interview related to Father's Day this Sunday, and more of the interview, focusing on domestic issues and foreign policy, will air on CBS' "The Early Show" Monday.


Watch CBS Videos Online

The president proved yesterday he will not tolerate distractions from his hefty political agenda -- at least not those coming from pesky insects.

President Obama addressed issues ranging from health care to financial industry reform in a lengthy interview on CNBC on Tuesday, but he was interrupted by a fly persistently buzzing around his head.

"Hey! Get out of here," Mr. Obama said.

After a few irritated swats, the president zeroed in on the pest and patiently waited for it to land on his hand. He gave it a quick smack and watched it fall to the floor.

"That was pretty impressive, wasn't it?" Mr. Obama said. "I got the sucker."

Watch the moment below.

In a wide-ranging interview in Newsweek magazine, President Obama said the hardest thing he has had to do in office is order 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

Mr. Obama, expressing a sentiment that echoes his Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates (and every other War Secretary or president from the past), said, "Making sure that you have thought through every angle and have put together the best possible strategy, but still understanding that in a situation like Afghanistan the task is extraordinarily difficult and there are no guarantees, that makes it a very complicated and difficult decision," he explained.

Asked about sending more troops to Afghanistan, Mr. Obama said, "My strong view is that we are not going to succeed simply by piling on more and more troops."

Newsweek's Jon Meacham scored an interview with Mr. Obama as he traveled on Air Force One from the White House to Phoenix last Wednesday for his commencement speech at Arizona State. The interview covers life in the White House, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Republican party, the bully pulpit, Dick Cheney, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's forthcoming visit to Washington D.C., Iran and ... Vulcans.

Read full post…

Following disclosure by a Senate Armed Services Committee report that she gave verbal approval to CIA Director George Tenet to use waterboarding on detainees, former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended herself in an impromptu interview (see the video below) with Stanford students at a campus reception on April 27.

Rice told the Stanford students that waterboarding is not torture, based on the authorization to use an extreme method that simulates drowning by President Bush and legal counsel. “I didn’t authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency,” she said.

In other words, as Richard Nixon said in his interview with David Frost in 1977, "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal."

Read full post…

President Obama spent most of the 61st and 62nd days of his presidency at Camp David, but that doesn’t mean that he didn't make news. On Friday night, he sat down at the White House with Steve Kroft of CBS News' 60 Minutes for an interview that aired on Sunday night.

"The one thing that I've tried to emphasize, though, throughout this week, and will continue to try to emphasize during the course of the next several months as we dig ourselves out of this economic hole that we're in, we can't govern outta anger," Mr. Obama said. "We've got to try to make good decisions based on the facts in order to put people back to work, to get credit flowing again. And I'm not gonna be distracted by what's happening day to day. I've gotta stay focused on making sure that we're getting this economy moving again."

The president also once again expressed support for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, saying that even if Geithner tried to resign he'd say "Sorry, Buddy. You've still got the job."

He also delivered his weekly radio/Web address and the topic was the budget.

"With the magnitude of the challenges we face, I don’t just view this budget as numbers on a page or a laundry list of programs," he said. "It’s an economic blueprint for our future – a vision of America where growth is not based on real estate bubbles or overleveraged banks, but on a firm foundation of investments in energy, education, and health care that will lead to a real and lasting prosperity."

You can watch part 1 of the 60 Minutes interview below.



More From 60 Minutes: | Story | Transcript