Obama and Eastwood

President Barack Obama says the ribbing Clint Eastwood gave him at the Republican National Convention last week doesn’t mean he won’t watch his movies.

“I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan,” the president said in an interview excerpt released today.

“He is a great actor, and an even better director,” he continued. “I think the last few movies that he’s made have been terrific.”

USA Today asked the president about Eastwood’s participation at the GOP convention while Obama was traveling to Iowa on Saturday. The interview will be fully released on the publication’s website Monday and in print Tuesday.

Eastwood was a much-hyped mystery speaker at the three-day long event, rousing the crowd in a 12-minute oratory that included a satirical “interview” with Obama, in the form of an empty chair. The president said he didn’t hold a grudge against the blunt performance, which some considered borderline vulgar.

“One thing about being president or running for president — if you’re easily offended, you should probably choose another profession,” the president said.

Obama said not to expect any similar acts at the upcoming Democratic convention this week in North Carolina.

“I think we’ll be playing this pretty straight,” he said.

Most of the president’s surrogates on this morning’s political talk shows largely reflected his stance, with few directly criticizing the Hollywood legend. On ABC’s “This Week,” senior adviser David Plouffe said, “We’re all Clint Eastwood fans here in the Obama campaign.”

“The president, myself, we all, I think, everyone in America thinks he’s been an amazing actor and director and an American treasure,” he told George Stephanopoulos. “I do think the Romney campaign would probably not, three days after their convention, still having questions raised about Clint Eastwood. So you’ll have to ask them how that all went down.”

Senior Republicans are quietly perplexed with the performance. And in avideo montage of the convention released today Eastwood is noticeably left out of the clipreel.

Regardless, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this morning former candidate Newt Gingrich said it was “one level of fun,” but also “almost irrelevant.”

“It provides lots of fodder,” he said. “On the other hand, if you’re Mitt Romney and your choice is to have ‘Saturday Night Live’ decide to pick on Clint Eastwood or pick on you, I think I’d give them Clint Eastwood for every night for the rest of the campaign.”

Via ABC

Obama's Box

Keep the conversation going and let the voter's voice be heard.

http://obamasinbox.com/ 

Obama On Todd Akin: 'Rape Is Rape' (Video)

In a surprise news conference Monday, President Barack Obama addressed the controversy surrounding a remark by Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) that women who suffer "legitimate rape" rarely get pregnant.

"The views expressed were offensive," said Obama. "Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me. So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
The comments are the most high profile in a series of rebukes from both Democrats and Republicans. Earlier in the day, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney also condemned Akin, who is running to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).
Obama did not call on Akin to leave the race, as some Republicans have done. "He was nominated by the Republicans in Missouri," he said, "I will let them sort that out." He did, however, use the opportunity to contrast his approach toward women's health care with that of the GOP.
"Although these particular comments have led Governor Romney and other Republicans to distance themselves, I think the underlying notion that we should be making decisions on behalf of women for their health care decisions, or qualifying forcible rape versus non-forcible rape, I think those are broader issues," Obama said. "And that is a significant difference in approach between me and the other party."

By Sam Stein / Huffington Post