The interview is still underway here on the East Coast, so I suppose things could change, but so far, President Obama is thoroughly knocking it out of the park.
well okay, it just ended, and...wow.
I mostly just want to paraphrase as accurately as possible his responses to Steve Kroft's invariably GOP-tilted questions.
Here's the best of the best, though not too accurately quoted:
When I came into office in 2009, I thought the magnitude of the Country's problems were great enough, that Republicans and Democrats in Congress could put aside some of their rigid ideological baggage and come together to make hard balanced choices to fix things...but the Republicans made a different calculation. They saw that they had really messed up the economy and that I (POTUS) was popular. If they just stood on the sidelines and let things get worse, they could just wait, and eventually blame me for the bad economy.
In the comments of this very diary, Fellow Kosack Denver11 has already brilliantly articulated why this was the money quote:
If Obama and the Dems can hang this on the Rs, it is, in fact, all over. Sacrificing your country and its citizens for the opportunity to win elections will not go over well. At all.
Here's more of what POTUS said tonight on 60 Minutes, as best I can remember:
It won't matter too much whether the GOP nominee is Romney or Gingrich, because their platforms are basically the same thing, and Americans will have a stark choice between which way they think the country should move.
If, like the GOP, you think lowering taxes even more on the wealthiest and on corporations, and getting rid of lots of regulations are the answer, then I will lose.
...
Here's something about me: I'm a persistent son of a gun. I'm just going to keep on trying to get things done, and I believe we will, and that America will succeed.
It was great that they replayed POTUS' excellent response during his press conference the other day, to accusations of 'appeasement'. So as we wait for the 60 minutes interview clip to become available (which I will add to diary), let's watch it again:
UPDATE 1:
The video of tonight's 60 Minutes episode with POTUS pt.1 (h/t progdog):
pt.2:
p.s. A heartfelt thank you to the crazy person who GAVE ME A LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION to this magnificent site! I am beyond broke, so it is something I couldn't have done for myself. Wowwww! :) :) :)