President Obama on The View Video: Full Interview May 15, 2012

By on May 15, 2012 - Comments { 1 } - in Politics

President Barack Obama official portrait

Watch President Barack Obama on The View; video of the full interview from the Tues. May 15, 2012 broadcast is below. Returning to the ABC daytime TV talk show, he marked his second appearance as the first sitting U.S. President to do so. He weighed in on a wide range of political, economic, personal and lighthearted topics — including same-sex marriage and the 2012 election — with co-hosts Barbara Walters, Whoopie Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.



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Part 1 of the interview is above. Watch the rest on YouTube:

Check back for full transcript text. A summary of the discussion is below. As in his previous appearance in July 2010 the program was taped a day earlier — May 14, 2012 — for broadcast.

On gay marriage and his public announcement in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, he acknowledged that Vice President Joe Biden’s interview on Meet the Press rushed it ahead but he did not fault him. He said “It came out of a generosity of spirit. When you get to know Joe Biden, he is the most honest, straightforward guy,” Obama said. “He’s warm; he tells you what he thinks. We talked about it and what I said was I’m never going to blame anybody for telling what they believe.” He added: “I think it’s important for everybody in my administration to feel like, you know, we want to be disciplined, we want to make sure we’re getting the message out there but at the same time, on issues of principle, you know, I always admire people who go ahead and speak their minds.”

Asked about the particulars of his position on discrimination that exists at the federal level for same-sex couples he noted that the Justice Department no longer enforces DOMA, Defense of Marriage Act. He said of it: “We don’t think the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional. This is something that historically had been determined at the state level and part of my believing ultimately that civil unions weren’t sufficient, and I’ve been a longtime supporter of civil unions for same-sex couples, was partly because of the issue of Social Security benefits and other laws.”

While same-sex marriage was the hot-button issue he also spoke about the election, as well as how his administration is handling the economy When asked he said he still gave himself an incomplete as a grade. He spoke about his opponent former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney the presumptive Republican nominee, contrasting differences on issues.

On family issues he spoke about his experience of coaching basketball for his daughters’ school. He also talked about his daughters Sasha and Malia and how he relates at this stage of their lives as well as how he and First Lady Michelle Obama are raising them.

He also took the infamous pop culture quiz as he did on his previous visit, answering some questions correctly, i.e. identifying Kim Kardashian as the one who had been married for 72 days; it was because he knew of of Kris Humphries.

More transcript excerpts at ABCNews.com

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President Obama on The View Video: Full Interview May 15, 2012

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