Although CBS This Morning and Charlie Rose provide more substance than the vacuous Good Morning America and light-weight Today show, the program still features easy interviews for Democrats. In a two part exclusive with Barack Obama on Tuesday, Rose offered up such softballs as this one: “The Obama doctrine. What is the Obama doctrine?”
So, while the segments hit on the topics of Iraq, Syria, the 9/11 report and Bashar al-Assad, it also included the journalist wondering, “You have said more than one time that we're the strongest military, we have the best economy. You've mentioned the culture. ‘America should own the 21st century,’ your words. What could stop us?”
Even though the topic of discussion was supposed to be foreign policy, the CBS co-host related, “Can I tell you how many people that I talk to before I did this interview and the question of what has he learned and what is his advice for his successor came up all the time.”
Co-host Gayle King was so entranced that she didn’t want the interview to end:
GAYLE KING: Feels like it was just getting going where I wanted to hear more of that, that tone. Because he falls into a thing where he starts getting very relaxed and you feel it's a real conversation. That it's not just a presidential talking point, which he also does very well. But I love when he really gets personal about how he feels about things. He was getting there.
King conducted a famously fawning interview with Obama prior to the 2016 Super Bowl. She gushed over the President’s dance moves and early photos.
On the subject of terrorism, Rose helpfully framed the threat of ISIS and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi through the lens of killing bin Laden:
ROSE: When you arrived in office, I think one of the early things you said to the CIA director is, I want to get Osama bin Laden, and you did. I assume you feel the same way about Baghdadi.
The journalist at least got into Obama’s famous promise, the statement that Assad using chemical weapons would be a “red line.”
ROSE: Let me focus on the red-line decision that you made. Many look at that and say because you did not and went over the opposition of some of your advisers, which is what a president is expected to do, make the hard choices, that what we have today, in part because of that decision, we have devastated state. We have had close to 500,000 people die.
Certainly this was tougher than his interview with Hillary Clinton in which he called her a “friend” and read a poem to the candidate. Unfortunately, the rest of the Obama interview didn’t match this query.
A transcript of the second part of the interview is below:
CBS TM
4/19/16
8:03:53 to 8:09:38CHARLIE ROSE: There are calls this morning to restart Syrian peace talks after opposition leaders asked for a timeout. New video shows what activists say are air strikes by Syria's government. It is new evidence that a cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia is crumbling. The opposition's leaders says he cannot negotiate while people are suffering and Syria's president stays in power. President Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone yesterday about the crisis. We interviewed the President at the White House just after he talked with Putin. Is there a coming together in terms of ideas about peace and a cease-fire and who can do what to make Syria a better place?
BARACK OBAMA: My call today to him was to indicate that we're starting to see it fray more rapidly. And if the United States and Russia are not in sync about maintaining it and getting a political track and transition moving, then we could be back in a situation we were three, four weeks ago. And that would serve neither of our interests. But I think they're also very much committed to maintaining the structure of the Syrian state, which in theory we don't object to either. Where we have continually butted heads, and this has been true for six years now, is his insistence that he cannot back unilaterally the removal of Assad. That's a decision that Assad and the Syrians have to make.
ROSE: The Obama doctrine. What is the Obama doctrine?
OBAMA: I've always shied away from labeling my foreign policy. What I believe is that the United States, as the world's singular superpower, has an obligation in all areas of the world where there's mayhem and conflict to try to be a positive force. But that does not mean that we should be deploying troops everywhere, where a crisis is taking place, that we have to be judicious about how we use military power.
ROSE: When you stay don't do stupid stuff and when you said “I'd like to be judged by what I didn't do,” some say that in fact you're putting too much emphasis on what we don't do and not enough emphasis on the choices we might have to do.
OBAMA: I've heard this argument. Look, Charlie, when we sat down together back in 2009 when I first came into office, we were still in the midst of two active wars. And since that time, we've been able to wind down active combat in those two theaters. Those countries are by no means in great shape. Al Qaeda core has been dismantled. Bin laden is dead. ISIL is losing territory. So I've shown no hesitance to use our military where necessary to protect American lives, American interests.
ROSE: Let me focus on the red-line decision that you made. Many look at that and say because you did not and went over the opposition of some of your advisers, which is what a president is expected to do, make the hard choices, that what we have today, in part because of that decision, we have devastated state. We have had close to 500,000 people die.
OBAMA: I think there's no doubt that there are many in the Middle East who would have preferred me taking a shot at Assad. But the reason is not because of some abstract notions of red lines. Assad is a horrible leader, a horrible dictator who has shattered his country. It continues to be our position that we need to get him out of there.
ROSE: You have said more than one time that we're the strongest military, we have the best economy. You've mentioned the culture. “America should own the 21st century,” your words. What could stop us?
OBAMA: Well, a couple things could stop us. Number one is if our political system continues to be dysfunctional. It's fascinating the degree to which the single most important question I'm asked these days from other world leaders is, “What's going on with your elections?” The current presidential election is just the tip of a broader iceberg of dysfunction that we've seen.
ROSE: Can I tell you how many people that I talk to before I did this interview and the question of what has he learned and what is his advice for his successor came up all the time.
OBAMA: Right. And so one of the things that I've learned is that the big breakthroughs are typically the result of just a lot of grunt work. There's a lot of just blocking and tackling. What is important is making sure you have got an organization that has integrity, that is clear about its mission. That is doing things the right way and not taking shortcuts. That you are not thinking in terms of short term politics or PR. But you’re in for the long haul. And when you do that, then, ultimately, you’re going to do the good outcome.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Really interesting.
KING: Feels like it was just getting going where I wanted to hear more of that, that tone. Because he falls into a thing where he starts getting very relaxed and you feel it’s a real conversation. That it’s not just a presidential talking point, which he also does very well. But I love when he really gets personal about how he feels about things. He was getting there.
ROSE: Yeah. That took place about 20 minutes in.
NORAH O’DONNELL: I've been reading through the transcript. I keep highlighting every word. We're going to see more of this interview, right?
ROSE: All of it tonight on my PBS program.
