Obama Laughs Too Much, Kroft Asks: ‘Are You Punch-Drunk?’
Here’s a transcript from President Obama’s appearance on 60 Minutes tonight, in which Obama kept breaking into laughter so much while discussing the total collapse of the US economic system, Steve Kroft asked him if he was “punch-drunk:”
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
I just want to say that— the only thing less popular than putting money into banks is putting money (LAUGHS) into the auto industry. So—
STEVE KROFT:
18 percent are in favor.
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
(LAUGHS) That’s—
STEVE KROFT:
Seventy-six percent against.
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
It— it— it’s not a high number.
STEVE KROFT:
You’re sitting here. And you’re— you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, “I mean, he’s sitting there just making jokes about (LAUGHTER) money—” How do you deal with— I mean, wh— explain -
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
Well—
STEVE KROFT:
—the mood and your laughter.
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
Yeah, I mean, there’s got to be—
STEVE KROFT:
Are you punch drunk?
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
No, no. There’s gotta be a little gallows humor to (LAUGHS) get you through the day. You know, sometimes my team— talks about the fact that if— if you had said to us a year ago that— the least of my problems would be Iraq, which is still a pretty serious problem— I don’t think anybody would have believed it. But— but we’ve got a lot on our plate. And— a lot of difficult decisions that we’re going to have to make.
Frank says: