Obama: US Can Be Leaner and Meaner

The Root gives the rundown on Obama's wide embrace of everything.

In his most wide-ranging policy interview since he was elected, Obama rambled extensively on the economy, the troubles in Southeast Asia, the U.S.-Russian relationship, the terms under which the U.S. should engage Iran and his plan to bring jazz and poetry to the White House.

In the interview, taped Saturday in Chicago and broadcast Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Obama said he expected the economy to get worse before it got better; that his task in fixing it will be easier than what President Roosevelt faced in the 1930s; and that despite their own strategic mistakes, he believes that U.S. auto manufacturers are the "backbone of American manufacturing" and deserve government help to survive their current problems.