Wallace Has 'A Very Friendly Exchange' With Obama

April 26th, 2008 5:01 PM

MSNBC's Dan Abrams and the folks in the liberal blogosphere are going to be very disappointed tomorrow when they witness what Chris Wallace says was "a very friendly exchange" between the "Fox News Sunday" host and Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama.

In fact, despite what Talking Points Memo reported Friday concerning Obama doing the program to "take on Fox," as well as Jonathan Kim's ("Fox Attacks") recommendation on MSNBC's "Verdict" that the junior senator from Illinois should "[go] on and just [attack] them," it appears Chris and Barack had an exceedingly civil and informative discussion about the campaign and the issues facing the nation.

Imagine that.

As he was driving home from his meeting with Obama, Wallace called in to give a preview of the interview to FNC's "Weekend Live" (h/t Johnny Dollar):

It was a wide-ranging interview. We talked about Gen. Petraeus, who the president just named the head of Central Command. He made a very sharp attack on John McCain's economic policy. We talked some politics, the problems he's had reaching out to white, working-class voters, Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers. And we also talked about Hillary Clinton's challenge for another debate before North Carolina and Indiana in a little more than two weeks. [...]

It was a very friendly exchange. I think we asked him the questions that Fox viewers want to hear, and I think they'll be interested in his answers. But, he very much, clearly wants to reach out to the kind of moderate to conservative Democrats and Republicans who watch Fox, and I think he's, as I say, very much wants to get away from any sense that he's a creature or a captive of the left. That was very clear throughout his, more than a half-hour that we sat down and talked to him. And I think, I get the impression he'll come back on Fox because there's millions of people who watch Fox.

In the end, this is exactly why folks like Abrams, Kim, and people in the liberal blogosphere don't want their candidates on Fox.

After all, since Wallace is indeed one of the best interviewers on television today, the extreme left just can't abide the possibility their candidates will come across better on Fox than on networks whose political leanings are more like their own.

And, they certainly don't want their candidates doing anything that might be construed as moving to the center. Just ask Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller.

That said, it's going to be fascinating to see how the Netroots and their idols on MSNBC respond to what looks like is another in a seemingless endless litany of fair and balanced interviews on "Fox News Sunday."

Stay tuned.