Obama Grants O'Reilly Super Bowl Interview

MIAMI -- President Barack Obama has agreed to conduct an interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly as part of a pregame package for Fox Broadcasting Channel's Super Bowl coverage, an Obama administration official confirmed to The Huffington Post.

This wouldn't mark the first time the president sat down with a Fox News interviewer, but it would be rare. The White House has sparred bitterly with the network over its coverage of the president, which has occasionally dipped into the conspiratorial.

The relationship hit a nadir when the White House launched an informal boycott of Fox News during 2009. Some bitterness has thawed since then, however, particularly when the administration tried to reach more conservative-leaning audiences during the height of the health-care debate.

That said, Obama's decision to sit down with O'Reilly may be driven less by ratings than tradition. An aide said it is customary for the sitting president to sit down for an interview with the network hosting the Super Bowl.

Last year, Obama sat down with Katie Couric before CBS hosted the big game. During that interview, the president announced his intention to host a joint health-care summit with Republicans.

(Hat Tip: Mediaite.com)

Comments

[lindamtch]

06:05 PM on 02/06/2011

It is clear to me thaqt Fox is taking over an otherwise sporting event to "preach" government stuff to the American Public, ie Oreill-yuck interview and the reading of our Bill of Rights? What the hell just happened? This feels like the government control such as Egyptian protestors are fighting for!
Freedom from government control This must be what that feels like. I will never watch Fox again and I used to watch Oreilly, just to know my enemy. I won't dignify The Mock Interview with a comment. Except I vote for Oreilly to be fired for showing such terrible disrespect to the President.

[slocomgp]

05:42 PM on 02/06/2011

Does anybody know if it has aired yet?

[Rational Voice]

05:56 PM on 02/06/2011

Who knows... I wanted to watch it, but couldn't find it. I'm sure it was weak, but it would have been interesting to watch.

[slocomgp]

06:08 PM on 02/06/2011

Me 2

[KingJostle]

03:11 PM on 01/18/2011

This won't be exciting, Obama likes to run the clock out with long renduntant answers.

[slocomgp]

05:40 PM on 02/06/2011

Don't watch it than.

[traciller]

11:53 PM on 01/16/2011

Hm. I notice that there was a good deal of mentioning, within this post, about the White House's informal boycott of Fox News, but there was no mention at all of the fact that Fox News boycotted Obama a good deal before the White House decided it no longer wanted to humor or engage with Fox News due to the tone of Fox News' rhetoric.

[FerrellGummitt]

11:30 AM on 01/10/2011

Rip him apart Bill...

[livesimply]

09:05 PM on 02/02/2011

That would to be pretty tough and in extremely poor taste before an all American event. Obama is the POTUS, like it or not.

[mediamarv]

11:56 AM on 01/08/2011

Maybe O can convince O'Raly how tides work.
Is stupidity the new badge of honor for righties and Fox followers??

[lapdogs]

11:17 AM on 01/08/2011

Is O'Reilly going to let President Obama get a word in edgewise to answer the questions or is it going to be like that other FAUX "Reporter" who kept interrupting Obama?

[jennyopines]

07:20 PM on 01/07/2011

After Obama's first interview with O'Reilly how much respect did he get?...zero.

[heartsick]

07:13 PM on 01/07/2011

A bit of advice for the President: Don't let O'Reilly in the White House; wipe your hand immediately after shaking hands with him; don't drink or eat anything he offers.

[Joann Vallo]

06:52 PM on 01/07/2011

Much as I can't stand o'reilly, he has a big audience and guess what? Obama is President of EVERYBODY in the United States, including billo's audience. Maybe, just maybe, he can actually reach a few of these people that so disrespect him.

[Kendall Curtis]

05:59 AM on 01/08/2011

Moderate and/or pragmatic comments like that have no place on Huf.fPo. Having views such as that might get yourself banned. I also think it is a good thing. People like nothing worse than being ignored no matter if they are a New York socialite or a gun toting bumpkin.

[Joann Vallo]

05:21 PM on 01/08/2011

"gun toting bumpkin"
This made me think of the pig who just shot congresswoman Giffords and those other people. She was on palin's; take em' out; dem map. I hope she pays big time for this.

[idisVA]

06:50 PM on 01/07/2011

Billo is capable of conducting a 'fair and balanced' interview. Whether he will or not, remains to be seen. I hope he will show courtesy and respect to the President.

[heartsick]

07:15 PM on 01/07/2011

Don't count on it, although we can all hope.

[jennyopines]

06:27 PM on 01/07/2011

Come election time, Obama will grant interviews to Olbermann and Rachel Maddow , put the baggers in their place, and most likely repeat his feel-good speeches about no one being above the law and going after torturers, ending the wars, , fixing the "too big to fail" banking system blah blah blah ....you know, the same stuff we fell for the first time...and then told to stop whining when we expected him to deliver on them......But until that time, Obama will continue to do a Monica Lewinski on the likes of O'Reilly and the rest of his backstabbers.

[LeftCoastEng]

06:26 PM on 01/07/2011

The President can let Bill know that the moon causes tides. Tide goes in...tide goes out, proof that there is a God.

[Equality72521]

05:00 PM on 01/07/2011

Wow calm down leftist, if you don't like anybody questioning your savior then you don't have to watch. Plus I am sure Obama well give an interview to the lap dog "journalists" at MSNBC, aka the white house propaganda division, where they will ask him hard nosed no none sense questions like: whats your favorite mid day snack, or how is your golf game? Fun related fact in two years Obama has been out golfing more times then Bush has in eight years. I wonder if Michale Moore will cut and paste clips of him golfing in his next documentary?

[heartsick]

06:37 PM on 01/07/2011

This post is evidence of why you have zero fans; it's devoid of any fact or truth.

[donia1970]

11:02 PM on 01/07/2011

.."its" just a quota posting t roll....

[Equality72521]

12:48 AM on 01/08/2011

I do not thrive off the approval of people I do not even know. Most likely your are one of those people who has 3000 facebook friends most of which you do not even know in which case I feel sorry for you. As far as my comment having no basis bull. MSNBC has always been a shrill for the left, there has always been a cult of personality surrounding Obama especially on the huff post, and the media except for Fox has always been soft on his administration. Was the comment trollish? Probably a little, but compared to the rest of comments on this particular subject it fits right at home the only difference is it is form an opposing view point which you "enlightened" leftist have no tolerance for which explains the hatred of Bill O'Reilly even though he was completely respectful to President Obama the first time he interviewed him. Now if you excuse me I am going to go out and have a life with actual physical people Mr. 134 fans, bet you cant wait till your next power up. Have nice life.

[livesimply]

10:57 PM on 02/02/2011

"Calm down leftist"? Who are you referring to? this is a pre-game interview. I'm sure even O'Reilly has enough class not to try to turn it into a partisan p!ssing match.

[dorzic]

04:44 PM on 01/07/2011

No one cares about this.