Fox's Major Garrett Lands Obama Interview in China

People are making a big deal out of Fox landing Obama, given the "controversy. " But Anita Dunn and the rest of the White House staffers have always said they respected Fox's White House reporters. It was the other more dubious "reporters" at Fox they objected to:

FOX News had to go to China to get President Barack Obama.

When the traveling president sits for a round robin of television news interviews in Beijing, FOX's Major Garrett says he'll be in the loop of five that get 10 minutes apiece with the president.

Garrett "tweeted'' this from China: "I will interview POTUS on camera Wed am here in Beijing. 4 other networks will too. 10 mins per. Many had asked. Can say now.''

CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry also gets an interview with the president, which will start airing at 6 am EST Wednesday on CNN's American Morning. Swamp

Obama's Interview With CNBC's John Harwood Video

If you're looking for the fly, that video is here.

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Transcript
Obama disses Fox "News:"

HARWOOD: I assume you're talking about Fox.

Pres. OBAMA: Well, that's a pretty big megaphone. And you'd be hard-pressed, if you watched the entire day, to find a positive story about me on that front. I think that, ultimately, my responsibility is to provide the best possible decision making on behalf of the American people at a time where we've got a lot of big problems. And, you know, we welcome people who are asking us some, you know, tough questions. And I think that I've been probably as accessible as any president in the first six months—press conferences, taking questions from reporters, being held accountable, being transparent about what it is that we're trying to do. I think that, actually, the reason that people have been generally positive about what we've tried to do is they feel as if I'm available and willing to answer questions, and we haven't been trying to hide them all. I do think that, you know, we can't be complacent, and that as long as we've got these tough problems in place that not only journalists, but the American people are going to keep on asking, you know, whether or not we're delivering. And they understand it's not going to take us just a few months to get out of the hole that we're in; but, you know, I suspect that as time goes on, with high unemployment, with the economy still slow, that, you know, people are going to be continuing to expect results. And I welcome that. That's why I took the job.

Obama Missouri Town Hall April 29 Video

Full video (if you're looking for the news conference on April 29, that's here)

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Transcript
In this clip, Obama pokes fun at the tea baggers, saying he's ready to have a serious conversation. The key word is serious. Tea baggers have a great disdain for Obama. They don't like government and they're being misinformed, used and prodded by the likes of Fox and that ilk. They're also a very hateful bunch of people, which is why you can't have a serious conversation with them. I call them the Tea Party, the new GOP.

Fox Will Air Lie to Me Instead of Obama's Press Conference

Well, Fox is the right wing advocate, so it makes sense. How appropriate that it's showing Lie to Me, whatever that is.

AP: The network is turning down the president's request to show his prime-time news conference on Wednesday. The news conference marks Obama's 100th day in office. Instead of the president, Fox viewers will see an episode of the Tim Roth drama "Lie to Me."

Obama's Interview in Marie Claire Magazine

This part is just funny:

MC: What's it like living in a house full of females?
BO: It's wonderful, but I end up being the butt of a lot of jokes. You know, "Daddy's leaving his big shoes in the middle of the floor." "Daddy's hanging his pants on the doorknob again." "Daddy only has three pairs of shoes, and they're really old."

Here he is defending Michelle:

MC: Do you think she's misunderstood?
BO: Not by people who've been paying attention. I think that if you've been watching Fox News then probably she's misunderstood, because I do think there's been a fairly systematic attempt by the conservative press to paint her in a completely false way. They latched onto the one gaffe or statement she made about being proud of her country for the first time, which, as Laura Bush acknowledged, was not something that Michelle had meant — that she had not been proud of her country before. And her very legitimate criticisms of how families are being treated and the difficulty for so many women of balancing family and work was painted as her being this caricature of an angry person. Anybody who knows her well knows she's got the best sense of humor of anyone you'd ever want to meet. She's the most quintessentially American person I know.

MC: How so?
BO: She grew up in an Ozzie and Harriet household, with mom, dad, brother, dog — I don't know about the dog, but . . . [laughs]. Her dad worked all his life, despite having multiple sclerosis. Mom stayed at home. They loved each other and spent their time talking and supporting each other. Michelle went to public schools; her favorite show is The Dick Van Dyke Show; her favorite food is french fries; she shops at Target. She's just a wonderfully normal, levelheaded person. Any American woman who meets her would immediately identify her as a fellow traveler.