Then: Barack Obama “wants the country to fail.” Now: “He might be guiding us in the wrong direction.” Legendary singer Andy Williams has backed off the sharp edge of his criticism of President Obama. About three weeks after he told a British magazine “Obama is following Marxist theory” and “wants the country to fail,” Williams, prompted by ABC's Chris Cuomo on Tuesday's Good Morning America to agree he was “taken out of context,” concurred: “Well that's taken out of context, a lot of it.” Williams complained “it was an interview that I made to a reporter by phone in London and it just got blown out of proportion.”

The singer, on the ABC show to promote the release of his new book, 'Moon River and Me : A Memoir,' tried to get back in the good graces of liberals and Obama fans: “I think Obama's the most-charismatic politician that we've seen since John F. Kennedy.” Recalling he “voted for many Democratic Presidents,” he assured viewers “I have nothing absolutely against a liberal Democrat,” though he still allowed “I just think sometimes, like a lot of Americans, that he might be guiding us in the wrong direction.”

He concluded by dismissing the relevance of his opinion: “But that's just from a singer. It really doesn't mean much.” To which the small audience, inside GMA's Times Square studio, laughed.

The September 29 NewsBusters item, “Andy Williams Inverts Rush Limbaugh: Barack Obama 'Wants the Country to Fail.'”

From the interview in the 8:30 AM half hour of the Tuesday, October 13 Good Morning America:

CHRIS CUOMO: You're trying something else new at 81 years of age: political commentary. You're giving an interview about the book and they wind up making news with you talking about Barack Obama, criticism that you feel he may want the country to fail. You taken out of context? What's going on?

ANDY WILLIAMS: Well that's taken out of context, a lot of it. It was an interview that I made to a reporter by phone in London and it just got blown out of proportion. I think Obama's the most-charismatic politician that we've seen since John F. Kennedy. And I was a great friend of Robert Kennedy, voted for many Democratic Presidents. I have nothing absolutely against a liberal Democrat. I just think sometimes, like a lot of Americans, that he might be guiding us in the wrong direction. But that's just from a singer. It really doesn't mean much. [audience laughter]

CUOMO: No, your opinion means as much as any, people look to you as a voice to be listened to and enjoyed, obviously.

—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center