The ladies on the show "The View" got the opportunity to interview President Obama. One of their questions was "did he know that Jessica Simpson had given birth." Do you think it was a total waste of opportunities?

That’s the last show where I would expect people to be serious.

I wonder if he even knows who she is? I’m not sure I do. Is she one of those professional blonds who marries a football player?

I’m sure there are one hundred more interesting and relevant questions to ask. Then again, maybe I’m the one who is out of touch. Maybe the rest of the world really cares about Jessica Simpson’s birthing practices. I’d rather find out what he did when his kids were born than find out whether he knows if some dumb blond has given birth yet or not.

I agree with @Blackberry. I’d also add that I’m glad they didn’t ask anything of substance. The issue would likely be trivialized and screwed up in such a way as to be less helpful than not asking the question in the first place. The lighter the questions, the better. “So, Mr. President, what time did you brush your teeth this morning?”

I sure do. I don’t know who this person is myself, and I can’t imagine how knowing anything about her would be an important accomplishment for a president.

Considering the source, what else could one expect?

The show has Barbara Walters, who I consider fairly intelligent. I’m surprised she would allow something so stupid to be asked.

I suspect he went on that program to reach a specific audience – an audience that would know who Jessica Simpson is and would want to see the ‘light hearted’ side of Obama. I don’t think his agenda would have been to play the serious card.

@Bellatrix From the clip I saw, he didn’t know who she was.

He didn’t need to know who she was. He would have known exactly what he was letting himself in for and I am sure he handled the question with aplomb. He is a witty man. I am sure he could handle the crew on ‘The View’ and come away looking good. My point is I don’t think he agreed to go on that show to be serious. The question would suit their audience, the people he wants to reach.

The only importance of that question that I can possibly see is that the asker wanted to see whether Obama is in touch with the popular culture?

“So Mr. President, are you planning to, just as Mr. Clinton did, take all the W’s from all keyboards in the White House when Newt takes office over in a few months?”

Absurd. The Simpsons do not have a daughter named “Jessica”.

I would be interested to see his response! Hopefuly with Obama-plom he manage to answer in a friendly, casual way while projecting what a stupid, waste of time question that was.

Until now, I thought The View was relevant, although I’ve never seen it. I’ve suddenly developed the opinion that it’s run by a bunch of ditzy women whom it’s hard to take seriously.

@jca did Barbara ask him what kind of tree he would be?

@jca Barbara Walters? I revise my new-found opinion of the show a tiny bit. If anyone watches it, would you let me (us) know the context?

@filmfann and @Dutchess_III: I’ve only watched one episode of The View in my life, and that was about a week ago, they had Howard Stern on. I am a Stern fan and someone told me he was going to be on there, so I DVR’d it. Otherwise, watching women sit around a table and bicker, caw and cackle is not my idea of fun.

Fifteen trillion dollars in debt and their attention is focused on what Jessica Simpson just did. No wonder this nation is slip-sliding away.

^Totally agree.

Its the View. Probably was his wife’s idea ,you know scooping the womans vote. Who else watches that tripe?

I’ve never watched the show but I’m not sure that people should criticize programs for simply for being what they are. My understanding is that The View is not a hard news show so I don’t know if they can or should be criticized for not asking hard news questions. It’s like the people who criticize Jon Stewart for not asking the hard questions, not pushing when he chooses not to push. He does enough to expose the truth and the lies, he does what he does, and in the end it’s a comedy show, a parody of news shows, not an actual news show.

And it might not have even been fair to Obama. If he agrees to go on The View, he thinks he gong on The View and all of a sudden finds himself on Meet the Press or Face the Nation, that would kind of be an ambush and really not fair. He would be put on the spot. The show, as I understand it is live. I don’t know if the questions would have been reviewed in advance. I don’t know how these things work. But you don’t ambush the President of the United States on live television, no matter who the president is.

Anyway, I don’t watch the show and I’m just talking out of my ass here. :-)

Lilly, you don’t have to hit the answer button! You could walk away from this question right now but you can’t seem to do that…

He has been on the show before. Do a ‘You Tube’ search. I didn’t watch the clips but it would appear a couple of years he participated in some quiz about vacuous celebrities. His wife has been on the show too.

It’s all about votes. Our politicians go on late night talk shows, have been known to dance and Obama is world renowned for his singing. It presents his ‘human’ side for some people. It’s all planned and weighed up in terms of what it will do to make him more appealing to some demographic.

I’d have rather they asked him the “boxers or briefs” question someone asked Clinton so long ago. At least it would have pertained to him, and not a B-list celebrity. I know The View is lighthearted, but I sincerely hope the Jessica Simpson question was just a tiny part of the interview, and just for laughs.

Whilst I like to hear very important people talk about less important things (like celebrity goings on ect) I do think that this particular question was pointless. If they had asked his opinion on Lady Gaga’s fashion sense I would have been interested in the answer but whether or not Obama knew if Jessica Simpson gave birth is hardly like to spark any interesting discussion, it’s pretty much a yes or no answer.

A few years ago, Obama made a joke about Snookie. A year later, he admitted that he didn’t know who Snookie was.
I understand he is a busy guy, with vastly more important things on his plate, but I do find it interesting that he doesn’t know a lot about our celebrity culture.

It would be nice if there’s a transcript somewhere so we can read the questions and his answers.

I don’t think Obama is lacking tough interview questions, or platforms to make his views known. Isn’t this like criticizing someone for going bowling with the president instead of demanding he sit down and get back to work?

Tough interview questions, @nikipedia? Who, what, when and where was that?

As to The View, Elizabeth Hasselhoff asked questions about the economy. Barbara Walters asked if it is fair to say Romney is out of touch because he is a very rich man. Joy whats-her-name started the interview with questions about pop culture and gave Obama an opportunity to say he and his girls love The Modern Family show with a gay couple. Sherry, from Dancing with the Stars, asked about the upcoming election. Babs fawned over him and Whoppi Goldberg participated a littly tiny bit in the segment with a discussion about Michelle and his daughters.

http://theview.abc.go.com/