This interview is one of the better ones I've seen President Obama give, but he still had to tap dance around race issues, unlike others who are on the national stage right now. It really chaps my hide that the black President can't really say anything without the idiots on the right like Matt Drudge blowing their horns and complaining that he's playing the "race card."

But as usual, the President does a great job of making his point without giving wingers anything rational to hang onto very hard. We all know they've lost their grip at this point, so what Matt Drudge says doesn't play with anyone but True Believers anyway.

The full transcript is here. And here are a few teasers.

To Inskeep's question about whether the right wing irrational fears about the President trying to "change the country in some irrevocable way":

Well, look, if what you are asking me, Steve, is are there certain circumstances around being the first African-American president that might not have confronted a previous president, absolutely.

And then when Inskeep doesn't really articulate what he's asking very well, the President goes at it again:

If what you are suggesting is is that, you know, somebody questioning whether I was born in the United States or not, how do I think about that, I would say that that's something that is actively promoted and may gain traction because of my unique demographic. I don't think that that's a big stretch.

On why he gets such hate from Republicans:

If you are referring to specific strains in the Republican Party that suggest that somehow I'm different, I'm Muslim, I'm disloyal to the country, etc., which unfortunately is pretty far out there and gets some traction in certain pockets of the Republican Party, and that have been articulated by some of their elected officials, what I'd say there is that that's probably pretty specific to me and who I am and my background, and that in some ways I may represent change that worries them.

But that's not to suggest that everybody who objects to my policies may not have perfectly good reasons for it. If you are living in a town that historically has relied on coal and you see coal jobs diminishing, you probably are going to be more susceptible to the argument that I've been wiping out the economy in your area.

Of course, Drudge only focused on the first part and not the last.

There's much more. It's worth the 36 minutes to watch.