The presidential candidates’ ongoing campaign of dueling talk show appearances continues Tuesday with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama‘s joint visit to ABC’s The View.
Speaking with Barbara Walters and her co-hosts in an interview pre-taped on Monday, the couple discussed many topics, from economic policy to their relationship to the relative merits of the president’s opponent, Governor Mitt Romney. Point blank, Walters asked the POTUS, “Would it be disastrous for the country if Mitt Romney were elected?”
Obama answered, “Well, you know I think America is so strong, and we’ve got so much going for us that we can survive a lot. But the American people don’t want to just survive, we want everybody to thrive, we want folks to have a shot at success, and so the question then just becomes, whose policies are more likely to lead us to where we want to go?”
What else did the President and First Lady speak about?
While the First Lady can deliver a killer speech, as evidenced by her rousing turn at the Democratic National Convention, she said that she doesn’t have the patience to be the president and that she does not have any political aspirations in the future à la Hillary Clinton.
The POTUS also said he’d love to work with young people when he is out of office. He told The View, “I love teaching. I miss teaching and I’m not sure necessarily it will be in a classroom, but the idea to be able to go around to various cities and helping to create mentorships and apprenticeships and just giving young people the sense of possibility.”
For now though, the President is focused on getting re-elected for a second term by, “wrapping up the war” and, “putting folks back to work and making sure our schools are up to snuff.”
As far the candidates’ differences on economic policy, Obama cited Romney’s interview on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, in which the Republicant said he believes it’s not unfair that he pays a lower tax rate than someone making less money and suggested that keeping taxes low on the wealthy is the way to get economic growth.
Obama’s response: “I’ve just got a different vision about how we grow an economy. I think, Barbara, that you grow an economy from the middle out, not from the top down, and that when the teacher and the bus driver and the receptionist and the office manager — when they’ve got a little money in their pockets, when they’re doing well, then that means business has more customers, that business makes more profits, they hire more workers, and that’s been the history of our country, we grow fastest when the middle class is doing well and when folks who are trying to get into the middle class have ladders of opportunity.”
The Democrat continued, “So that’s a different vision about how we move the country forward, and ultimately it’s going to be up to the American people to make the decision about who’s got the better plan.”
To which the First Lady chimed in, “I’m voting for him.”
Romney has called The View a “high-risk” venue and has called its all-female panel “sharp-tongued.” Nonetheless, he has promised to visit the show in October. Meanwhile, his wife, Ann Romney, will appear Tuesday night on NBC’s The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
The Obamas’ episode of The View airs Tuesday at 11 AM on ABC.
What do you think about the President’s statements? Let us know in the comments below.
