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President Obama: FULL INTERVIEW | Real Time with Bill Maher
- Thread starter lightskintwin
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Team Alucard
Banned
Please tell me they had Coulter as one of the panelists. It would be the greatest moment in the history of television.
lightskintwin
Banned
It's a taped one on one interview.
Team Alucard
Banned
What? I thought Obama was actually going to be on the show live?
lightskintwin
Banned
It looks like Bill Maher had to come to the President if he wanted the interview.
blame space
Banned
really gonna miss this dude
Pamplemousse
Member
Best President ever.
It is a shame this wasn't live, but I assume that's too hard with the logistics.
Reverend Funk
Comfy Penetration
huh? is bill maher retiring?
No way in hell that Obama would submit himself to the fuckery that is Bill Maher's panel.
AuthenticM
Member
If only this were the case.
Disappointing to see Obama wasting his time with such a racist douche.
Shogmaster
Member
Tonight's entire show was FIYA. Good job.
StickSoldier
Member
Truly one of the most likable presidents.. Why'd we have to get stuck with the two going now?
OT: I never realized your tag had a secret to it. Members, upon members.
Listening to Obama's articulate, careful, nuanced approach to every answer... and understanding how accurately it must reflect his own thinking just makes the thought of a Trump presidency all the more frightening. Can you even imagine Trump trying to sort out situations half as complex when it comes to policy making or foreign affairs? With Obama you sense an openness to other people's ideas and a willingness to listen and consider thoughtfully. To me, Obama represents the best of us in the qualities of his person and his respect for the office. Even if you don't agree with every choice he's made, you can't deny he's been an extremely inspiring face for our country.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
I forgot politics can be more than emails vs the million Trump scandals or republican obstructionism vs democrat governance.
AgentCooper25
Neo Member
Pretty good interview overall. Nice to see Maher ask Obama some questions he doesn't usually get.
Yeah, but no.
I saw this episode and watched the following week's episode to see if he would issue an apology. Nope, he had Margaret Cho on to show he wasn't a racist by having her just sit there not saying anything.
Anyway, off to work, so sorry in advance if I can't respond to anyone for the next 6-10 hours.
Chie Satonaka
Member
Only place he lost me was where he said people are basically good.
That said, great interview, and he'll be missed when he's gone.
That said, great interview, and he'll be missed when he's gone.
a Master Ninja
Member
Obama kinda dodged several of the questions, though. For example, he made a case for a strong military, but didn't really answer the question about military spending.
tiredheadcrab
Member
Good interview overall. Glad to see Obama come on his show.
The overall mood of this show was rather down and looking at Maher he looked legit worried. Never seen him like that before and I've been watching him for 10 years.
The overall mood of this show was rather down and looking at Maher he looked legit worried. Never seen him like that before and I've been watching him for 10 years.
I mean, the case speaks for the costs, apparently. Getting into the minutiae of excess spending in the military ain't gonna happen.
Solid questions from Maher. I thought this was gonna be more jokey. Nice to see it turn out this way.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
There was a whole lot of adding on more stuff to the answers and somewhat going off on tangents. I also think that's how complicated some of the stuff is though.
Oh absolutely. There's no real black and white situation and he did give a better, less romanticised vision on certain things like the legacy vs building from scratch talk when getting into the socialist question. But a lot of the questions he just didn't answer... let's take for example the atheists issue. Bill Maher asked about the representation in congress of "non-believers"... the answer was "atheists are not really persecuted... you're doing pretty well with your show", "everyone should have the right and freedom of religion", "extremism of religious ideology is a big issue"... ok, but where the fuck is the answer to the congress representation?
lightskintwin
Banned
LOL He's a politician, you learn how to give the most safe and inoffensive answer as possible. The reality is there ain't gonna be any nonreligious representation for Congress in a long time, if ever; so there's no need to potentially have a sound bite used against Democrats angering the majority of the country that are Christians.
He's not gonna bring any more heat on Dems answering a question like that at this crucial point. The man knows what he's doing. Dodging loaded questions like that is part of the game.
lightskintwin
Banned
Exactly.
I don't get the angle of his question, just because they're a non-believer doesn't mean they all share the same beliefs like people who are in sects in religion. If atheists wanted to come together and have representation in congress than that's their prerogative. Unless we say that there's discrimination and persecution against atheists banding together, why is this a issue for the government?
Wait, hold on. We're a bunch of foaming-at-the-mouth, racist, ignorant, selfish clowns who celebrate ignorance over knowledge and thrive only on hatred and dehumanization of the other.
Where's our orange conman serial rapist reality tv host president? Why are the sprinkler systems irrigating our plants with water? Ugh, can we get this weird dream over with already so that I can catch back up on self-loathing flagellation?
Where's our orange conman serial rapist reality tv host president? Why are the sprinkler systems irrigating our plants with water? Ugh, can we get this weird dream over with already so that I can catch back up on self-loathing flagellation?
Oppo
Member
man. you guys aren't gonna get another Obama for a long time. good interview. funny to see Maher so cowed though, heh. all he managed were some indignant reaction shots.
the bit about the "indispensable country" militarily was somewhat creepy because you could so easily read the subtext. basically: "you think our military is a bloodthirsty war machine? this planet would be fucked without it, so shitty are the vast majority of sovereign nations at a government level." and i believe him too.
the bit about the "indispensable country" militarily was somewhat creepy because you could so easily read the subtext. basically: "you think our military is a bloodthirsty war machine? this planet would be fucked without it, so shitty are the vast majority of sovereign nations at a government level." and i believe him too.
I agree with you completely. He did his job as a politician very well. Dodging bullets is part of the job, and firing those bullets and insisting is part of the journalists job (which is why I was quite disappointed with Maher just moving on like a sedated lamb when he boasts of being this lion). What I am saying is that I was personally disappointed with the interview because Obama did his job so well as a politician and there was no actual interesting or on point answer. I understand it's good for him and his career, for me as a viewer and interested person in the issues asked was "meh... the usual bla bla".
You'd be surprised. A lot of people feel alienated by the exclusion of their prerogative when all the others seem to have a voice. It's easy to dismiss, I know.. but there's a reason there's a saying that the POTUS can be anyone except an atheist. But that was an example to how Obama deviated actually from answering a question and not necessarily a subject I particularly chose to be more deliberated. If you prefer I can go choose another question and "answer".
Just watched this and it's hard to believe he isn't one of the most beloved presidents in history. The guy is just so aware of the importance of his position and how doing the right thing comes first. I thought it was very interesting how much credit he gives to other people and doesn't even realize it's his own doing. When he is discussing the military and how the military leaders are calm and reserved. That is just pure leadership, they are calm and reserved because he leads them. You throw some yahoo in that room that just goes off and they will all just follow right along. I wonder how much change he has caused just by that cool as fuck attitude. I'm sure rooms full of people are freaking out and he walks in cool as fuck and changes the entire atmosphere, people just chill out and get down to the task at hand.
tearsintherain
Member
I wish Obama had refused to go on Maher and gone on John Oliver instead, that would have probably driven Maher into an apoplectic rage. He's been basically begging for Obama to be on his show for 8 years.
Obama was on Sam Bee's Full Frontal earlier this week as well.
Obama was on Sam Bee's Full Frontal earlier this week as well.
And a lot of people rally around things that has nothing to do with their religious beliefs. Are we also going with platitudes? I'm sure I could have said that the POTUS can be anyone except a non-white person and it would have sounded as true a decade ago. Obama is a politician so obviously he needs to walk a fine line, I'm not debating that, but I'm not sure what the line that needs to be crossed in this case. I'm not sure I want non-believers to be grouped into a singular entity just because Bill Maher thinks he needs a bigger echo chamber.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
i am glad he went on bill maher. he asked him questions liberals actually fucking care about. im surprised he didnt ask him about muslims though but i guess that was off limits this close to election.
Spiral Insanity
Banned
Why isn't the fucking episode live on HBO GO?!?!
Again I'll point to the fact that my post was simply an example of how Obama did not answer a question and not an attempt to open Pandora's box regarding atheism. Maybe if he did answer the question the way you do... he would clarify things about what his perspective or position is on the issue than what he actually said. I also think it's quite ignorant to say non-believers would want to be a singular entity simply because of Bill Maher. He's an advocate for it (and a terrible one as well), but there are a lot more given the statistics that feel misrepresented and alienated by many stances. US is supposed to be a secular state but when God bless America is a punctuation mark in politics is not hard to see how a lot of people might have a problem. And the issue about persecution can actually be put to test. There is a big stigma surrounding atheism in US politics and that is really not a secret.
Without having a detailed analysis as to what the makeup of this non-believer group is, you're simply projecting what could be a situation of a small subset onto this whole group. And that's the issue I'm making, what makes us believe that this group is more similar than dissimilar in the first place? A typical non-believer may not care to have a clear atheist representation in congress.
disappeared
Banned
Great interview. I'm gonna miss the guy.
Polishin8r
Member
He was auch a great president hopefully Hillary is half as good, will miss him 
Discotheque
Banned
Shit on Maher all you want but he asked some pretty interesting questions imo
That smoking jab was funny too. God damn are we gonna miss this guy
That smoking jab was funny too. God damn are we gonna miss this guy
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