Mike Allen: Obama Is Trying to Marginalize Opponents

The interview, which you can watch at the left, began with Allen talking about White House officials' reactions upon encountering resistance from the Chamber of Commerce. He said the president and his administration have been circumventing the organization on key issues being discussed in Washington.

"In the case of the Chamber of Commerce…. [White House officials] are saying to them, 'We don't have to deal with you. You're the voice of business, you spend more on lobbying than anyone else, but we have our own relationships with CEO's and companies. We can just talk to them. We don't have to go through you when you're opposing up on climate change, bank reform, and health care.'" Allen said.

He also discussed the surprisingly public recent feud between the White House and Fox News, saying that the Obama administration was making a conscious effort to undermine media outlets it sees as conservative in order to protect itself from potential criticism. (Read more on the fued here>)

"A very important part of it is that it inoculates them against other stories that might pop up on Fox," Allen said. "They want to delegitimize reporting that appears on Fox."

He did mention, however, that Fox News was enjoying increased ratings since the beginning of the public dispute.

"I think Fox News loves this," he said. "It's great for them."

Also featured in the video above: Karaoke by Politico staffers and Bob Schieffer.

Read Mike Allen's story on this topic yesterday in Politico.>

Also, click here for today's full show which also includes Dr. Ashraf Ghani, an independent candidate in Afghanistan's presidential elections in August, and a "Unplugged Under 40" feature on a Washington lawyer trying to force college football to eliminate the BCS.

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.