Audio Of Obama’s ‘Jackass’ Remark: Refreshing New Tone For The President!

by Glynnis MacNicol | 4:01 pm, September 15th, 2009

» 6 comments

0915_obama_audio_ex2 TMZ has posted the audio of President Obama referring to Kanye West as a “jackass” yesterday. It’s an interesting listen for a number of reasons.

One, Obama is responding to a reporter asking him whether his girls were as “ticked off” as the reporter’s were about Taylor Swift‘s treatment at the VMA’s. “I thought that was really inappropriate,” says Obama. “Does that count as the first question?” the reporter asks, suggesting they were already on the record? Obama certainly doesn’t explicitly ask to be taken off the record even after he’s made the remark, though he does allude to not wanting the remark to be blown out of proportion. So much for that. Here’s the rest of the exchange:

Obama: The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person, she’s up there getting her award. Why’s he up there?
Reporter: Why’d he do that?
Obama: He’s a jackass.
[Much hooting in the press room over this.]
Obama: Now I’m assuming all this stuff…where’s the Pool [reporter]? Come’on guys, cut the President some slack…I got a lot of other stuff on my plate. Because I remember the last time, there was the fly thing. That was the highlight.
Reporter: But that worked out well for you, you were a ninja!

Yes, yes he was. (According to everyone but PETA.) And this outburst may also work out well for the Prez. Taken in the jokey context it was obviously meant it seems like a, um, reasonable, human response. Kanye was a jackass. The President didn’t try to sugarcoat it. The President’s human! A little more of this side of Obama would be a welcome change in terms of the current health care debate. One can only hope he makes an appearance a some point on his grand tour this Sunday. You can listen to the full audio here.

barack obama, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, TMZ, VMAs

BarbaraL

Are you sure that was the reporter asking if it was the first question? It sounded like Robert Gibbs.
CaptainAmerica

Why aren’t the pundits pointing out the obvious?! This was his sister solja moment. He is having trouble with white voters. This way he gets to slap down a little punk African American entertainer. But he did it in a way that won’t offend the African American community. If he had done it “on the record” and from a podium that would be one thing.
Magister

I’d interpret the “Now I’m assuming all this stuff…where’s the Pool?” as an indication that he thought it was pre-interview, off the record and they were still messing with audio or something.
ImNotBlue

Let’s use this to checkout the mindset of “the media.”

Obama references “the fly” incident, and the reporter responds with:

Reporter: But that worked out well for you, you were a ninja!

Really? Doesn’t that sound a little fawning to anyone else? Want more, what about this:

A little more of this side of Obama would be a welcome change in terms of the current health care debate. One can only hope he makes an appearance a some point on his grand tour this Sunday.

Seems pretty approving (understandably) of Obama’s words, and encouraging him to use harsher words when talking about healthcare. Where do you think this reporter stands on the issue? OOPS, wait… It’s Mediaite’s Glynnis again! So I suppose the follow up question goes from, “Does the media have any shame, why won’t they admit their biases,” to “Why won’t Glynnis admit HER biases… and get her posts moved from general television interest, to an ‘opinion column’?”

Well?
m

Once again, as soon as there’s a post here on Mediaite that isn’t overtly conservative, praises Fox News, pats O’Reilly or Beck on their backs – the crocodile tears start coming. Seriously. Just drop the whining.
ImNotBlue

Yes, M… you’ve said that before…

Yet, I’m still waiting for those “overly conservative” articles you seem to read.

I laid out the text, I’ve shown the evidence… if you want more, I’ll keep pointing it out for you. But for someone who claims to be upset with FOX’s “fair and balanced” slogan, as so many anti-FOX-ers claim to be… why you wouldn’t want more honesty on this blog, is somewhat surprising. And by “surprising,” I mean really predictably hypocritical.