Don Lemon: Why Is Obama ‘Punching Down’ at Fox? ‘Isn’t the President Above That?’

In a recent interview, President Obama called out both Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for putting enough pressure on congressional Republicans to keep them from having a dialogue with them, but CNN’s Don Lemon wanted to know Friday night why exactly the President of the United States is taking shots at conservative media outlets when he should really be above the fray, and, more importantly, whether Obama can “really blame Fox News for his troubles?”

Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen argued that everything Obama says is always “blown out of proportion” in the right-wing media, but Lemon pointed out, “Isn’t the president above that? Like, you don’t punch down.”

Rosen defended Obama as just being frustrated, while Reihan Salam pointed out that plenty of people who work with Obama say he’s difficult to work with and “sometimes wants to shift blame to other people.”

Neither Limbaugh nor Fox News have taken kindly to Obama’s comments, taking shots at him this week for going after them again.

Watch the video below, via CNN:

[photo via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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