The Blog of Record

Time.com has the scoop. This is interesting:

When [the president's interviewer Hisham] Melhem mentioned that he shared Obama’s love of Chicago Blues music, the President beamed with satisfaction as White House aides tapped their feet impatiently. “There we were, two Blues fanatics, sitting there talking about Muddy Waters,” Melhem says.

Whether it was chemistry with the journalist or Obama’s scripted intention, Melhem came away with an interview that amounted to an unprecedented reach-out to the Muslim world by an American president. Unprompted, Obama spoke about his own Islamic connections, noting that some of his family members are Muslims and that he had lived in the largest Muslim country, Indonesia.

Presidential interivews of such importance must be scripted to the last word. It makes you wonder just how much thought went into the decision to do that interview and into what was said in it. And who knows what other things, prompted or not, the president could have said had it not been for the first lady:

Obama’s aides cut Melhem off before he could finish all his questions, explaining the President had a dinner date with his wife.

First things first.

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