Why Did Barack Obama Waste His Time Interviewing With Bill O’Reilly?

Story by Kulture Kritic
By David Bloodsaw

If you didn’t know, there was a pre-Super Bowl interview between President Obama and Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly. The interview ventured into testy territories between the two which aired before the most watched sports event in the United States.

The Huffington Post reports that President Obama accused Fox News of keeping controversial topics alive that the White House feels have been settled.

O’Reilly questioned the President about Benghazi and the IRS scandal and even positing that the White House has distracted from those issues to avoid criticism and to protect his image.

According to Huffington Post, O’Reilly said, “Your detractors believe that you did not tell the world [Benghazi] was a terror attack because your campaign didn’t want that out. “That’s what they believe.”

“And they believe it because folks like you tell them that,” Obama said. “These kinds of things keep on surfacing in part because you and your TV station will promote them.”

Bill O’Reilly also brought up the unveiling of the healthcare plan and the many problems with that. O’Reilly asked why the White House did not fire Kathleen Sebelius the Health and Human Services Secretary after the website didn’t operate properly and took a month to get people enrolled.

Obama reaffirmed that, “My main priority right now is making sure that it delivers for the American people.”

President Obama said some “boneheaded” decisions were the cause for extra scrutiny of Tea Party Members seeking tax-exempt status. O’Reilly pressed the President why the IRS Head Douglas Shulman visited the White House 157 times, which Obama said were routine. Obama said those issues were cleared up in multiple hearings in Congress.

Bill O’Reilly closed the interview with stating that he believes the President’s heart is in the right place. POTUS responded by saying he enjoyed it.