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President Obama To Barbara Walters: ‘I Don’t Think About Sarah Palin’

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President Obama sat down with Barbara Walters for a holiday weekend special set to air next Friday called A Barbara Walters Special: A Thanksgiving Visit with President and Mrs. Obama and it seems that Ms. Walters was able to generate draw out his thoughts on the 2012 campaign. Though he says that he’s not giving much consideration to the coming presidential run, he is instead focusing on being “the best possible president.” And, he said, he certainly isn’t focused on a potential challenge from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

ABC News Political Director Amy Walter reports:

When asked specifically if he thinks he can beat Sarah Palin in 2012, the president told Walters “I don’t think about Sarah Palin.”

“Obviously Sarah Palin has a strong base of support in the Republican Party and I respect those skills,” Obama said. “But I spend most of my time right now on how I can be the best possible president. And my attitude has always been, from the day I started this job that if I do a good job and if I’m delivering for the American people the politics will take care of itself.

“If I falter and the American people are dissatisfied, then I’ll have problems,” he said.

The interview, which also included first lady Michelle Obama, covered a wide range of topics including the recent events in North Korea, the latest controversies over TSA screenings in airports, the “shellacking” his party took in the 2010 midterms, the economy, and, of course, Thanksgiving traditions.

The full interview, “A Barbara Walters Special: A Thanksgiving Visit with President and Mrs. Obama,” will air Friday, Nov. 26 at 10 p.m. ET.

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  • skyfet

    Why would anyone waste their time thinking about a reality tv star. The only folks worried about her are the GOP, because if she wins the nomination, it would be a disaster for them.

    He (BO) would wish the tea party are energized enough to nominate her.

  • Big Eddie

    ” I don’t think about Sarah Palin ” . No , he has a czar for that . This perpetual campaigner , conniver , con artist and vacationer does the opposite of what he says . The public has caught on to him , even the lefties .

    Romney can beat him . Huckabee can beat him . Sarah can beat him . The guy who played Crabman on My Name is Earl can beat him …

  • TfT

    BS

  • murf

    This administration, has been described by those inside as; thin skinned , paranoid, poll obsessed, and media weary. While I don’t think Barry spends his days and nights thinking about Palin, she’s definitely a thought.

    All you need to do is look how reactionary they are to Fox News , Rush Limbaugh , Glenn Beck ( Shirley Sherrod ! ) .

  • Just4thefax

    Fact: He just thinks who and where he can do his bow and apology tour to make USA look weak!

  • RIChris

    “If I falter and the American people are dissatisfied, then I’ll have problems,” he said.

    Newsflash, Mr. President!

  • Probably NOT wrong

    TfT said BS

    Damn T, you beat me to it!

  • TfT

    Obama’s approval numbers are now under 40%; should be a headline here. The Palin story is the same headline plastered on ABC.com. Palin rules the news and the manchild is responding to Palin, not the other way around. The media will continue to attempt to diminish Palin and keep hehimself up on their pedestal. They campaigned for him, they voted for him, and they will do everything they can to protect him.

    Just think, GITMO is never in the news anymore, as it was daily during Bush.
    You never hear a “body count” of our soldiers dying in Afghan, like you did during the Bush years.
    The media supports the TSA groping, and condemned NSA eavesdropping on our enemy.
    W’s attorney General was widely condemned by the media, Holder gets a pass, despite his outrageous acts.
    And on and on and on

    You just can’t make this shit up….the enemedia strikes again.

  • Pablo

    ‘I Don’t Think About Sarah Palin’

    I’m busy focusing of that son of a bitch Glenn Beck.

  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    Bye Bye Barry.

  • Oregon Conservative

    Obama thinks about them all. Of course he does. Why must he lie about it?

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Obama answers with grace and tact even though the Palin-bitch just attacked his wife in her new book.

    Sarah, you’ll never have the class that Barack Obama has.

  • http://www.karlspensen.blogspot.com Karl Spensen

    ROAR, Mama Grizzly, ROAR!!!!!111 Everyone thinks you are all HYPE and no SUBSTANCE … that you are just out to make MONEY and be a CELEBRITY … but we True American Patriots KNOW BETTER!!!!!111 You have been sent by King Jesus Himself to TAKE BACK our Once Proud Republic, and we will be right behind you when you do!!!!111

    You know, some people say that Sarah has turned out to be everything We accused the Obamessiah of being – more of a celebrity than a politician, an empty suit, a blank slate for people to project onto, etc. etc. To those people I say – SHUT UP SARAH RULES!!!!!!1111

  • TangledThorns

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Obama answers with grace and tact even though the Palin-bitch just attacked his wife in her new book.

    Sarah, you’ll never have the class that Barack Obama has.

    Ladies and gentleman, here is the Democratic party! This is why they lost to Sarah Palin’s candidates in 2010 and will lose the White House to her in 2012.

  • Dave74

    TfT said:
    Obama’s approval numbers are now under 40%; should be a headline here.

    Under 40% where? On Gallup he’s at 46% and even on pro-republican Rasmussen he’s at 47%. And for those wondering those numbers are better than Clinton or Regan at this point in their 1st term.

  • skyfet

    @TangledThorns
    I’ve got news for ya. Sarah’s candidate lost in the election. Where should I start? from Alaska to Delaware, Nevada, Colorado etc.. Hopefully you guys will nominate her next time round.

  • Penguin60

    Only the media keeps thinking about Palin as a President. And if she believes she can win, she is deluded. She is a non factor for Presidential nomination, he’ll have to worry about a cavalcade of others.
    And now for something completely different, it’s the economy, stupid.

    “Though he says that he’s not giving much consideration to the coming presidential run, he is instead focusing on being “the best possible president.”
    Remember Bluto in the Steudent Court scene?

  • valkyrie101

    Did you see michelle’s smirk when Obama was talking about Palin? It was like, yea, bring it on bitch. If I was Palin, I would be getting those camera crews and merchandisers lined up for the coolest run for president, ever.

  • Pablo

    Dave74 said:
    Under 40% where? On Gallup he’s at 46% and even on pro-republican Rasmussen he’s at 47%. And for those wondering those numbers are better than Clinton or Regan at this point in their 1st term.

    Zogby.

  • Pablo

    skyfet said:
    @TangledThorns
    I’ve got news for ya. Sarah’s candidate lost in the election. Where should I start? from Alaska to Delaware, Nevada, Colorado etc.. Hopefully you guys will nominate her next time round.

    I’ve got some news for you. She went 33-20. That’s a win.

  • murf

    Karl Spensen said:
    ROAR, Mama Grizzly, ROAR!!!!!111 Everyone thinks you are all HYPE and no SUBSTANCE … that you are just out to make MONEY and be a CELEBRITY … but we True American Patriots KNOW BETTER!!!!!111 You have been sent by King Jesus Himself to TAKE BACK our Once Proud Republic, and we will be right behind you when you do!!!!111

    You know, some people say that Sarah has turned out to be everything We accused the Obamessiah of being – more of a celebrity than a politician, an empty suit, a blank slate for people to project onto, etc. etc. To those people I say – SHUT UP SARAH RULES!!!!!!1111

    She gets tools like you all riled up , and for me, that’s all that matters .

    For someone who will get ” CRUSHED ” by 0bama you leftists sure don’t act like it.

  • skyfet

    @Pablo
    This is a parody. You have to look all around to find a poll that satisfy you. You are not satisfied with Rassmussen poll, Fox news poll, you have to use a poll that no one use. ah Joke!

  • skyfet

    @Pablo
    Most of those wins are house seat that was a given. She didn’t win where it matters. Imagine a performance like that tin a General election. I left out Carlifonia 2 big ones. Go away she has no relevance, at all.

  • Pablo

    skyfet said:
    @Pablo
    This is a parody. You have to look all around to find a poll that satisfy you. You are not satisfied with Rassmussen poll, Fox news poll, you have to use a poll that no one use. ah Joke!

    Yeah, I had to go all the way to the Reich-wing nutjob Los Angeles Times where they reported on that poll yesterday. You sure got me there, skyfet.

    Dave asked what poll had Obama under 40%, and I gave him a link to it. Pull your head out, moron.

  • murf

    Kam Fet said:
    she has no relevance, at all.

    From reading your posts , apparently she does in your world .

  • Pablo

    skyfet said:
    @Pablo
    Most of those wins are house seat that was a given. She didn’t win where it matters. Imagine a performance like that tin a General election. I left out Carlifonia 2 big ones. Go away she has no relevance, at all.

    Which is why there’s 75 posts a day about her here. And why Barbara Walters is asking the President about her. Because she’s irrelevant.

  • DonnaK

    The public is going to be so sick of this ignorant woman & her family by the election, she is the last person someone is going to want to vote for. I see that she has a new quote “People are going to talk about you anyway, so you might as well dance”, she has said it everywhere I’ve seen her. People wouldn’t talk about you if you didn’t give them so much crap to make fun of. As far as her being a feminist, most of us don’t want advice from Sarah Palin, about family or work, her track record doesn’t seem so great.

  • skyfet

    @Pablo
    She is only important to folks like you. Let me break it down for ya, Palin generates loads of traffic on these news sites, if you don’t know how money is made, the more traffic you have on your site the better on your revenue. So don’t be deceived about the number of publicity she’s getting everyone is in it for the money, that’s how people generate income online if you don’t know now you do. Capiche

    As for the poll, I got ya, Fox news Rasmussen have him higher but you need to feed your appetite.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Heidi-Brandts-Smith/1527701722 Heidi

    BWHAAAA Yeah, right, I’m sure you NEVER think of her, just trying to be the best president evah!!! What a joke, he is obsessing over her.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jay-Velez/881855382 Jay Velez

    Where I agree with skyfet is the notion of polls. Anyone can find a poll that will justify thier view. Although I do believe democrats are slowly backing away from Obama to say his approval rating is 39% is a bit of a stretch. I do not see him as high as 47%.

    Where I disagree with skyfet is the thought that the elections that were lost to the democrats did not matter. Further from the truth. Members of the house are more defined by their constituants than members of the senate. The GOP swing was huge for Palin as it is for Obama. To dismiss that as insignificant is to do so at your own peril.

  • ImRubberYoureGlue

    skyfet said:
    Let me break it down for ya, Palin generates loads of traffic on these news sites

    Let me break it down for ya, loads of traffic = loads of votes.

  • Corvax

    I may share political views with Palin but I cant wait until she is dismissed as a potential candidate for President. If you want Obama reelected in 2012 you should be rooting for Palin to win the nomination. She is best used in her current role (pundit/pr machine) not in actual office. I dont like her, I dont hate her, and I dont understand the fascination with her from either side.

  • skyfet

    @ImRubberYoureGlue
    Let me break it down for ya, the traffic does not necessary means all are for her, lol. Common are you that dumb.

  • murf

    Jay Velez said:
    . Members of the house are more defined by their constituants than members of the senate.

    May I add governor pick ups as well. Redistricting is HUGE , especially in swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.

  • Pablo

    skyfet said:
    She is only important to folks like you. Let me break it down for ya, Palin generates loads of traffic on these news sites, if you don’t know how money is made, the more traffic you have on your site the better on your revenue.

    Which is why she draws all that traffic on sites that write about her. Because she’s irrelevant. You can tell how irrelevant she is by the way you keep making comment after comment insisting on her irrelevance. You wouldn’t invest that kind of time on her irrelevance if she wasn’t irrelevant, right? Moron.

  • Pablo

    skyfet said:
    @ImRubberYoureGlue
    Let me break it down for ya, the traffic does not necessary means all are for her, lol. Common are you that dumb.

    I am good english two!

  • ChiliPeppersFan

    why would he bother thinking about palin. he shouldn’t have a problem with the women’s vote because one of his first acts was to pass the lilly ledbetter bill.
    i know you beck/palin fans aren’t a fan of progress, but we like it when women aren’t discriminated against only for their sex.
    i don’t know how you ‘mama grizzlies’ feel about equality, but those who are for it might cast their vote for obama in ’12.

  • ChiliPeppersFan

    @pablo
    kinda like the irrelevance shown by your side to keith olbermann, huh?

  • skyfet

    @Pablo
    Still don’t know about internet traffic and how it generates revenue for the firm (owner). I can’t educate you if you are too lazy to educate yourself. It doesn’t matter how much they post stuff about her, she’s a magnet, very divisive. A lot like her a lot cant stand her, so these groups when they clash it generate a lot of buzz, I’ve also noticed this behaviour in Politico. You are interpreting this issue in a wrong way, people talking about you does not necessarily mean they love ya. Nanananana, it’s a business module, ask Murdoch.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jay-Velez/881855382 Jay Velez

    Corvax said:
    are political views with Palin but I cant wait until she is dismissed as a potential candidate for President. If you want Obama reelected in 2012 you should be rooting for Palin to win the nomination. She is best used in her current role (pundit/pr machine) not in actual office. I dont like her, I dont hate her, and I dont understand the fascination with her from either side.

    This comment is not for the left.

    Here is where I have a problem. I might not agree with liberals that do not like her because she is the extreme opposite with their worldview, but I can understand that. I also do not have a problem with conservatives that prefer other candidates. This is America and you can think and vote whatever you want. What I do have a problem is that
    people who claim to share “conservative values” will say something so asinine. To say that Palin would guarantee Obama a 2nd term and start of with I share her political views is just idiotic. Hesitating to vote with someone you agree with makes no sense whatsoever. If I was to look at Romney for example fin the primary, I would not vote for him based on the state healthcare program he put in place in MA. I just think that is contrary to conservative principles. However, I would be an idiot if I did not vote for him because he is a Mormon, or because he projects the wealthy stereotype that haters are jealous of. If we allow ourselves to become so influenced on the superficial, then we deserve what we get in the end.

    End of rant.

  • skyfet

    @Jay Velez
    Tell that to Mike Huckabe, who said he was not going to sit and watch a Mormon be the President.

  • skyfet

    Can’t find the first one in print at the moment, am busy. But this one is easier : “Mormonism holds that Jesus and Satan are brothers” Huckabee. So the education still needed on the Right side, a lot of it. Someone needs to let them know that it’s not in the constitution that you have to be a Christian to be the President.
    35 and sane etc.

  • ProgLib

    Her first move if elected would be to increase the Presidential salary to make up for lost revenue.

  • Pablo

    skyfet said:
    Still don’t know about internet traffic and how it generates revenue for the firm (owner).

    No, i fully understand that. What I’m not too clear on is how you remember to breathe.

  • david r

    Better start thinking about jobs, fool. And N. Korea or Iran smoking our ass with a nuke. And you looked so stupid being played for a fool by that Pakistani posing as a Taliban leader. Your idea of foreign policy is correctly pronouncing the name as “Pock-E-Ston.” But you got your health care plan, even though it has no public option and nobody thinks we can afford it, and you “saved the economy” by letting off the banks and financial institutions without any repercussions for the disaster they created. But no matter. Whoopi thinks you are doing a great job.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jay-Velez/881855382 Jay Velez

    @ skyfet,

    Your right, which is one of the many reasons I did not vote for him (Huckabee) in the primary.

  • skyfet

    @Pablo
    Don’t be embarrass to earn, we all can always do better. Now take it with you and learn, read. Traffic, if there is focus on you, it doesn’t mean love. People can be looking at someone’s stupidity, lol. Get it!

  • pakattak

    So Obama says he doesn’t think about Sarah Palin. For all intents and purposes, he doesn’t. I’ve never seen him attack her on a political show, I’ve never seen him go out of his way to discredit her or her words.

    So why do people not believe him? What else could he do to let you know that he DOES NOT CARE ABOUT SARAH PALIN.

    I really don’t see why people are still talking about her. Why won’t she just go away…?

  • skyfet

    @Pablo
    Don’t be embarrass to learn, we all can always do better. Now take it with you and learn, read. Traffic, if there is focus on you, it doesn’t mean love. People can be looking at someone’s stupidity, lol. Get it!

  • jukin3

    Palin lives rent free in Obama’s head.

    The man would rather tell a lie than the truth.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jon-Martin/43100610 Jon Martin

    jukin3 said:
    Palin lives rent free in Obama’s head.

    The man would rather tell a lie than the truth.

    Actually no, Sarah Palin is retarded. Why would anyone think of her? lol!

  • antikythera

    pakattak said:

    So why do people not believe him?

    Because he’s a liar!

  • writer

    When Palin appears on TV shows, it proves she can’t act ‘presidential’. I guess you have to actually be the president first. Then going on Comedy Central or The View is okay.

  • Oregon Conservative

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Obama answers with grace and tact even though the Palin-bitch just attacked his wife in her new book. Sarah, you’ll never have the class that Barack Obama has.

    I’m gonna correct you here, sir:

    Sarah, you’ll never have the ass that Michelle Obama has.

    You’re welcome….

  • felixw

    If Obama doesn’t think about Sarah Palin, then he is the only leftwinger in the US who can make that claim. The left has been obsessed with Palin ever since she appeared on the national stage. The character attacks started within sixty seconds of McCain naming her as her choice for running mate — at a point when liberals wouldn’t even recognize the woman they were attacking if she was staring them in the face — and haven’t let up since. The Left seems to hate all conservatives, but especially strong women, African-Americans or Latinos who express conservative views — they go completely ballistic in those instances, and show no sense of restraint, honesty or balance in their attacks. Hence the Palin phenomenon….

  • Oregon Conservative

    While I know I’m no Sarah, Felix, you’re absolutely right. I’ve been vilified for challenging (and winning!) against union groupthink. How dare she, a WOMAN, stand up to tyrants with common sense!

    I’m hated around union parts and I’m couldn’t be prouder!

  • Oregon Conservative

    *I couldn’t be prouder!

  • writer

    Obama also doesn’t think about Fox News. In fact, he obsessively doesn’t think about it.

  • stoogedudes

    felixw said:
    If Obama doesn’t think about Sarah Palin, then he is the only leftwinger in the US who can make that claim. The left has been obsessed with Palin ever since she appeared on the national stage. The character attacks started within sixty seconds of McCain naming her as her choice for running mate — at a point when liberals wouldn’t even recognize the woman they were attacking if she was staring them in the face — and haven’t let up since. The Left seems to hate all conservatives, but especially strong women, African-Americans or Latinos who express conservative views — they go completely ballistic in those instances, and show no sense of restraint, honesty or balance in their attacks. Hence the Palin phenomenon….

    Everybody is thinking about Sarah Palin. Know why? Because the media can’t function without mentioning Sarah Palin every other second. So, yeah, if Obama pays attention to the news and the media, he would be thinking about Sarah Palin. Don’t know that he’s all that worried about her.

  • dahni

    Not worried, but Axlerod and others are going away from the WH right now to start demeaning possible opponents to Obama in 2012. Watch for the increase in ‘exposes’ of Romney, Christie, Gingrich, etc. Obama cannot change his worldview; nor his view of himself as the ‘once and future king’ of the New World Order. That is all he can think about. His underlings spend all their time deleting his detractors.

  • http://none pyrope

    President Obama To Barbara Walters: ‘I Don’t Think About Sarah Palin’

    Unless you’re counting nightmares. -0bama lie #37,997…and counting.

  • disenlightened

    Obama thinks about Obama. Screw the rest.

  • http://none pyrope

    Oregon Conservative said:
    Sarah, you’ll never have the ass that Michelle Obama has.

    Yep, from the photos, it would appear Michelle has about 4 acres of ass–and -0bama has about 4 acres of ears.

  • Probably NOT wrong

    Now I don’t care who you are, that shit is funny.

  • timcajun

    Obama doesn’t have to think about Palin because Fox does it for him! She won’t ever have to pay for ads! Fox is doing it for free!

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