As part of his media blitz in support of health care reform, President Obama appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman Monday night. The two talked health care as well as the economy, race and kids.
Obama outlined the state of play for health care, saying insurance premiums are going up and employers — who are “hammered” — are increasingly dropping people from their plans. He said that, without reform, in five or 10 years many more people won’t have health insurance. Further, he said, the government will go bankrupt from health care costs.
“We’re closer than we’ve ever been,” he said. “People are gonna realize this was the right way to go.”
Of the anger the country’s seen lately, Obama brushed off claims that it’s based in racism.
“I think it’s important to realize I was actually black before the election,” he said.
“Whenever a President tries to bring about significant changes, particularly around times of economic unease, there’s a certain segment of the population that gets riled up,” he said. “It’s not atypical. One of the things you sign up for in politics is, folks yell at you.”
He also talked about the strengthening economy.
“We are not out of the woods yet. Things are still fragile,” he said. “The single most important task for my administration, and my economic advisers, is how do we put people back to work.”
He cited clean energy as one potential source for hundreds of thousands of jobs, for projects such as retrofitting buildings to make them greener.
The interview started on a lighter note, when a woman in the audience gave the President a heart-shaped potato that she apparently brought to Letterman two years ago.
“You carry heart-shaped potatoes around?” Obama asked the woman. “Thank you for sharing.”
He also spoke about his daughters, Sasha and Malia.
“They’re wonderful, normal, happy kids so far,” he said. “I give Michelle all the credit ’cause she doesn’t take a lot of fuss from them.”
