In a 2016 presidential announcement masquerading as a lovefest masquerading as an interview, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared together on 60 Minutes with CBS’ Steve Kroft to discuss how much they adore each other. Kroft, who is the water carrier for both the Clintons and the Obamas – he conducted the famed “Tammy Wynette” interview with the Clintons after the Gennifer Flowers revelations in 1992, and helped bury Obama’s failure to label Benghazi a terrorist attack last year – facilitated the softball rollout of Hillary’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Joe Biden, eat your heart out.
The interview opened with Kroft sycophantically hyperventilating about what an honor it was to do the interview: “This is very improbable. This is not an interview I ever expected to be doing. But I understand, Mr. President, this was your idea. why did you want to do this together, a joint interview?”
The love in the room was palpable. This wasn’t 60 Minutes. It was Sixty Shades of Gray.
After Obama said that Hillary was “one of the finest secretary of states we’ve had” [sic], Kroft then asked if there were any political tea leaves to be read. Hillary avoided the question, as did Obama, both of them flirting with the possibility of a Hillary 2016 run.
The interview went on in this tiresome fashion for some thirty minutes. While Obama and Hillary made googly eyes at each other, Kroft got in hard hitting questions like:
- To Obama: Why were you so insistent about wanting her to be Secretary of State?
- To Hillary: You’ve been quoted as thinking or telling people that there was no way you were going to take this job and you weren’t going to let anybody talk you into it. (Laughter) What did he say that night that made you [reconsider]?
- To Obama: Has she had much influence in this administration?
- To both: How would you characterize your relationship right now?
Thanks, Dr. Phil.
The Obama administration is open about the fact that Kroft is their go-to-guy when it comes to their propaganda effort. Even Politico has pointed out that Kroft and 60 Minutes have “fallen prey to accusations of favoritism …. most of Obama’s interviews with Kroft and ’60 Minutes’ have generated little fanfare. Instead, the platform allows Obama to carry his message about the issues of the day to the American people, and drive the following days news coverage.”
This administration is not used to media criticism. That’s why it rips Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, and suggests that the “incentive structure” must be changed to prevent those outlets from presenting the other side politically. Were Obama king, there is little doubt he’d make all of his knights just like Steve Kroft.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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