Obama On Glenn Beck Rally: Folks Exercising Their Rights Exactly As They Should

Here is Brian Williams‘ full interview with President Obama from last night. Williams spoke to the President in New Orleans on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina about a number of things including Glenn Beck, the birthers, his vacation, and a second term. Normally these network interviews are a fairly orchestrated affair, but this one certainly provided an interesting snapshot into what the president is thinking amidst a fairly heady August news cycle.

Regarding Glenn Beck’s large Restoring Honor rally, Obama sounded rather sanguine:

Well, I have to say, I – I did not watch the rally. I think that one of the wonderful things about this country is that at any given moment any group of people can decide, you know, ‘We want to – our voices heard.’ And so, I think that Mr. Beck and the rest of those folks were exercising their rights under our Constitution exactly as they should. … [G]iven all those anxieties – and given the fact that, you know, in none of these situations are you going to be fix things overnight. It’s not surprising that somebody like a Mr. Beck is able to stir up a certain portion of the country. That’s been true throughout our history.

And he opened up further about questions regarding his father and birthplace:

Well, look, facts are the facts, right? So, we went through some of this during the campaign. You know, there is a mechanism, a network of misinformation, that in a new-media era can get churned out there constantly. … I’m not going to be worrying too much about whatever rumors are floating on – out there. If I spend all my time chasing after that then I wouldn’t get much done…I would say that I can’t spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead. It is what – the facts are the facts. And so, it’s not something that I can I think spend all my time worrying about. And I don’t think the American people want me to spend all my time worrying about it.

BriWi also posed Obama his question from yesterday morning about the lack of national conversation about race and poverty following Katrina. “I think we’re still having it,” said Obama. As for a second term? He says he’s not thinking about it (which is not an totally unbelievable claim considering some of the decisions he’s made of late): “I’m not spending a lot of time thinking about a second term. Right now, I’m spending a lot of time thinking about what I got to do next week.”

Watch the interview below.