In sticking with their running theme that President Obama doesn't spend enough time meeting with world leaders, Chris Wallace asked former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs why President Obama was going to have time to appear on The View, not making time to meet with leaders during the U.N. General Assembly next week. As Gibbs reminded him, they have these things called telephones these days where President Obama can talk to these leaders at any time without the need for some formal meeting with any of them.
Obviously Wallace didn't think much of the explanation since he was still making snarky remarks about it during the panel segment later in the show. And I think Gibbs is probably right. If President Obama were agreeing to appear with Wallace, I don't think we'd hear him say a word about it.
WALLACE: I want to go back to the U.N. though and New York this week. You say that he’s got schedules, that foreign leaders have schedules. But the President has blocked out time to appear on The View on Tuesday. So, he has time for Whoopi Goldberg but he doesn’t have time for world leaders?
GIBBS: No, Chris. Look, the President is going to be actively involved at the U.N. General Assembly.
WALLACE: He’s not meeting with any private leaders. He's giving a speech.
GIBBS: Chris, they have telephones in the White House. Last week he talked to the President of Egypt. He talked to the leader in Libya. We don't need a meeting in Washington just to confer with leaders. We’ve got a strong...
WALLACE: But he does need the time to be on The View?
GIBBS: ...we have a strong diplomatic... I’m sure if he was doing an interview with you on Fox News, you’d have no problem with that.
WALLACE: Well, he hasn't. But that’s not the point.
GIBBS: I’m sure that’s not the point. No look Chris, he’s got a strong schedule. He’s actively involved. You...
WALLACE: You don't have a problem with the fact that he’s not meeting with any world leaders, but he’s going to appear on The View?
GIBBS: I have no problem with that, because, Chris, you’re the President of the United States every minute of every day. That's why he talks to the leader in Turkey that's a hugely important leader in a country in that region of the world. That's why he picked up the phone and talked to the president of Egypt and tell them they have to have a strong reaction to this violence at our embassy.
They have to protect our consulates and our embassies and the people that work in them. Chris, this isn't just about one meeting on one particular day in New York. The President's actively involved and engaged in the most dangerous places in the world every single day of every week.
After years of carrying water for Bush on foreign policy, Fox is now doing their best to help the Romney campaign and painting President Obama as somehow weak on foreign policy and not doing enough to keep us safe from terrorism. As was pointed out on Rachel Maddow's show last week: New York Magazine's Frank Rich Tells Rachel Maddow: "Fox Really Is An Arm Of The Romney Campaign".
