In a humorous and pithy takedown of President Obama for his performance on CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday, Fox News Digital Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt appeared on Monday’s edition of The Kelly File to express his astonishment with how Obama’s reached “the point of utter incredulity, even with people who were once very admiring” like 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft.
Speaking with fill-in host Shannon Bream, Stirewalt kicked off his critique by pointing out that Obama’s poor performance was “made more awkward by the fact that the sort of number one Obama-nuzzler in the whole stable of Obama-nuzzlers” was Kroft, the very person who seemed to give him a hard time.
Since he was the junior Senator from Illinois running for president in 2007, Stirewalt summarized how Obama frequently turned to Kroft whenever he needed an interview with an extra sympathetic member of the liberal media:
[A]t the beginning, Steve Kroft was one of the guys who framed the Obama methos at the beginning, back in 2007, the rise of this guy and he was one of Obama's favorite interviews. He would go back to him when there were things he needed to lay out and that's why Kroft had this access[.]
With the latest failures of the President and his ISIS policy, Stirewalt observed that perhaps Kroft’s willingness to cover for Obama had soured:
[A]nd the fact that you get to the point where Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes says, “holy crokinole, dude, you can't just – you can’t just say, ‘I had a plan, I never really liked it, we did it anyway. What can you do? The community of nations, whatever that is, they’re going to go for it’ and then say ‘oh, yeah, but I am leading because of I'm having a conference in Paris on global warming’ and you get to the point of utter incredulity, even with people who were once very admiring.
Bream offered her own thoughts on Obama’s comments later in the segment in telling Stirewalt that it seemed as though Obama was “almost analyzing himself, almost as an outside spectator looking at some of these decisions like he's not the one who made these decisions.”
Stirewalt agreed with that sentiment and added that the current global scene fits the President’s goals for how he views the role of the United States
Underneath that, underneath these sort of vapor gusts, as he talks about himself, underneath that is reality. This is what he wants. This is by his design that the United States should not be playing a more advanced role there. That what we saw in Libya was, that's what he – I'm sure no one wanted the outcome that we’ve had in Libya, but he doesn't want the United States to be playing the lead dog role.
Going forward into 2016, Stirewalt opined that Obama’s diminished role for the U.S. could spell good news for Bernie Sanders at the expense 2016 Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton:
Hillary Clinton has to go to a debate with people who agree with the President, people like Bernie Sanders who wholeheartedly agree with the President that a Paris climate change summit is more important than who is bombing Syria right now because that will just have to take care of itself and in time. This puts pressure on Hillary Clinton, who is more hawkish than Obama, who doesn’t align with her party on this, but his party absolutely agrees with him.
The relevant portions of the transcript from FNC’s The Kelly File on October 12 can be found below.
FNC’s The Kelly File
October 12, 2015
9:03 p.m. EasternSHANNON BREAM: Chris, awkward!
CHRIS STIREWALT: Well, look, it made more awkward by the fact that the sort of number one Obama-nuzzler in the whole stable of Obama-nuzzlers at the beginning, Steve Kroft was one of the guys who framed the Obama methos at the beginning, back in 2007, the rise of this guy and he was one of Obama's favorite interviews. He would go back to him when there were things he needed to lay out and that's why Kroft had this access and the fact that you get to the point where Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes says, “holy crokinole, dude, you can't just – you can’t just say, ‘I had a plan, I never really liked it, we did it anyway. What can you do? The community of nations, whatever that is, they’re going to go for it’ and then say ‘oh, yeah, but I am leading because of I'm having a conference in Paris on global warming’ and you get to the point of utter incredulity, even with people who were once very admiring.
(....)
BREAM: Well, Chris, what do you make of sort of what we get from the President almost analyzing himself, almost as an outside spectator looking at some of these decisions like he's not the one who made these decisions.
STIREWALT: Right, like “whoever’s doing this, not doing that great. I’ve seen better.” “It’s you, boss. You’re the guy” and that has been his tendency all along, but I would also say this. Underneath that, underneath these sort of vapor gusts, as he talks about himself, underneath that is reality. This is what he wants. This is by his design that the United States should not be playing a more advanced role there. That what we saw in Libya was, that's what he – I'm sure no one wanted the outcome that we’ve had in Libya, but he doesn't want the United States to be playing the lead dog role. The problem it creates, though, is for his party. Hillary Clinton has to go to a debate with people who agree with the President, people like Bernie Sanders who wholeheartedly agree with the President that a Paris climate change summit is more important than who is bombing Syria right now because that will just have to take care of itself and in time. This puts pressure on Hillary Clinton, who is more hawkish than Obama, who doesn’t align with her party on this, but his party absolutely agrees with him.
