Obama calls Kanye a jackass

last updated 8 January 2015

Barack Obama has "finally found an issue that could unite both Democrats and Republicans," said Katie Connolly in Newsweek. In an off-the-record portion of an interview with CNBC, the president was asked to comment on hip-hop star Kanye West's outburst at MTV's Video Music Awards. The response wasn't aired, but ABC reporter Terry Moran said on Twitter that Obama calls Kanye "a jackass" for barging on stage and interrupting an acceptance speech (watch Kanye West interrupt country singer Taylor Swift at the VMAs).

I knew Obama "had his good points," said Allahpundit in Hot Air. "What I don't know is why he'd insist on keeping this off the record." The only reason the general public heard about the president's comment at all was that ABC's Terry Moran prematurely tweeted something that turned out to be from the off-the-record part of the interview.

"This is exactly the kind of human, non-Spock-like outburst Obama needs to do much more of to better connect with the vast majority of the American people," said Trey Ellis in The Huffington Post. But Kanye West is an easy target—nobody is going to argue when Obama calls Kanye a jackass. The president needs to be just as candid about everybody from Joe Wilson to Wall Street cheaters, and "the first step is to call them a bunch of jackasses."