Barack Obama talked jobs and Chelsea Clinton when he traded the Oval Office for a semi-circle of comfy chairs with the ladies of “The View.”
The first sitting president to do daytime TV, Obama joined recuperating “View” matriarch Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd Wednesday on the ABC chatfest.
For Walters, the taping was the veteran journalist's first time in studio since recovering from heart valve surgery in May. She had said the special “Red, White & View”discussion, which aired Thursday at 11 ET, would touch on hot topics like the economy, the Gulf oil spill and family life inside the White House.
But the president was also asked to weigh in on a recent leak of high importance to “View” faithful – his rumored presence this weekend at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, according to MSNBC’s Courtney Hazlett.
“You don’t want two presidents at one wedding! All the secret service, guests going through (metal detectors), all the gifts being torn apart,” Obama reportedly joked.
When pressed on whether he had indeed scored an invite the upstate New York affair, Obama said no, “because I think Hillary and Bill, properly, want to keep this thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband.
“Sorry, ya'll probably will not be getting invited to Sasha’s wedding or Malia’s wedding, either,” he added.
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Obama was also asked if he was a fan of “Snooki,” the breakout star from MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” several audience members who attended the taping told the New York Daily News.
"I'm sorry, I don't know who that is," Obama replied.
Following the sit-down, Behar described the president as “a gentleman, very charming, as usual.”
"He seems at ease with whomever he is speaking to," she told CNN.
Wednesday’s taping was not the first time Obama has appeared on “The View.” He last appeared as a senator in March 2008 and stopped by in 2004 while promoting his book “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.”
First Lady Michelle Obama guest co-hosted “The View” in June 2008.
But Obama’s decision to appear since swearing in as president has drawn criticism from the usual critics, and some of his supporters too.
"I think the president should be accessible, should answer questions that aren't pre-screened, but I think there should be a little bit of dignity to the presidency," Democatic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this week.
White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer defended the decision in a statement to the New York Times.
“Given the difficulty of reaching people in this hyperactive media environment, we look for opportunities to reach people in environments that are not traditional forums for political newsmakers,” he said by email. “That’s why we have been willing to have the president on Leno, Letterman and ESPN.”
