Obama: Kids know "other guy" is a "bulls****er"
President Obama had some choice words for his competitor Mitt Romney in an interview with presidential historian Douglas Brinkley that will be published in Rolling Stone magazine Friday.
In an excerpt of the interview published in Politico today, Brinkley describes a conversation between Mr. Obama and Rolling Stone executive editor Eric Bates. Bates told the president his 6-year old daughter was cheering him on.
"Obama grinned," Brinkley wrote. "'You know, kids have good instincts,' Obama offered. 'They look at the other guy and say, "Well, that's a bulls****er, I can tell."'"
Mr. Obama also criticized Romney for saying that 47 percent of the country sees themselves as "victims" who depend on the government, the Associated Press reported. "That sense that folks who have contributed to this country but are at the lower ends of the income scale are somehow looking for government to do something for them, or feel some sense of entitlement, is just fundamentally wrong," he said.
The Romney campaign responded to the president's criticism by charging that Mr. Obama is the candidate undeserving of voters' trust.
"President Obama talks about trust, but he has broken virtually every promise that Candidate Obama made in 2008 - including his pledges to turn around our economy, cut the deficit, and change politics as usual in Washington," Romney spokesperson Amanda Henneberg said. "Voters realize that we can't afford four more years like the last four, and Mitt Romney has laid out real plans to get our country back on track."
In addition to criticizing Romney, the president, according to the excerpts in Politico, touted his own record, remarking, "It's important for people to understand how much we've gotten done, because sometimes folks obsess with gridlock and the ugliness of the process here in Washington. We passed health care - something that presidents have tried to do for 100 years, and we will implement it. We passed the toughest Wall Street reform since the 1930s, and we will implement it and continue to strengthen it. We have put in place a Consumer Finance Protection Agency."
He also told Brinkley, however, that executive pay on Wall Street is still a "legitimate concern," according to the AP. "You still have a situation where people making bets can get a huge upside, and their downsides are limited," he said. "So it tilts the whole system in favor of very risky behavior."
The Rolling Stone interview comes less than two weeks before Election Day as the president aims to lock down support among certain key constituencies like young people and reach out to the remaining undecided voters. In addition to talking to Rolling Stone, Mr. Obama gave an interview to the entertainment tabloid Us Weekly, which is published by the same company as Rolling Stone. The president is also giving an interview to MTV that will air Friday.
In the Us Weekly interview, the president answered questions from two readers, telling 16-year-old Tyler Betz to "be careful what you post on Facebook" and to take his education seriously.
"I'm only where I am today because I had great teachers and access to great education, and because I worked hard in school," the president said. "That's why I want to recruit 100,000 math and science teachers over the next decade, and help more young people afford college."
