Interaction: The Obama administration

Myers: Hello, and welcome to Washington, DC, USA for this week’s edition of Interaction. Earlier this week, of course, more than a million people witnessed history here at the National Mall as the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, was inaugurated and promptly promised to change with the rest of the world. Certainly America has changed in the weeks since the election of a senator representing Illinois to the land’s highest office. But is this change America can believe in, or the change America needs, to borrow from his campaign themes? Is it change for change’s sake? Change for a fiver? It will be some time before anyone can make a proper judgement of the Obama administration, but until then, we have collected people who are experts at making snap judgements, members of the American media. Joining us here in Washington are, first, the moderator of ABC television’s This Week, Mr George Stephanopoulos.

Stephanopoulos: Hello.

Myers: The host of Headline News’s Morning Express, Ms Robin Meade.

Meade: Actually, we’re HLN.

Myers: Of course you are. Also with us is the host of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, Ms Rachel Maddow.

Maddow: Hi Debbie.

Myers: And cohost of Fox News’s Fox and Friends, Mr Steve Doocy.

Doocy: Good afternoon.

Myers: Thank you all for joining us today. George, let’s begin with you. As a former White House communications director, you have worked with a number of key players in the new Obama administration. What do you expect to see from the Obama administration?

Stephanopoulos: Well, Debbie, President Obama has promised change, and I think there is going to be a significant amount of that. He’s already issued an executive order to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay within a year, ordered a review of the military commissions there, and limited interrogation methods to those permitted by the Army’s field manual. I expect that we’ll see a number of other changes as well. I would expect to see him tighten regulations on the financial sector and the environment, for starters.

Myers: Certainly a lot to consider there. Robin, what are your impressions of the first several days of the Obama administration?

Meade: Well, I’m looking forward to the days when we will be able to talk about the new president’s policies, rather than, for example, what his daughters are having for lunch at their school, what the First Lady is wearing, or whether the oath of office counts.

Doocy: Well, that’s an important issue. If Barack Obama did not properly take the oath of office, he can’t execute his duties.

Maddow: That’s ridiculous. The 20th Amendment specifically says that the president’s term begins and ends at noon on the twentieth of January. The oath had nothing to do with it.

Doocy: That’s not true at all. Article II says that the president has to take the oath before he enters on the execution of his office. When he took the oath, he said, “I do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of President of the United States faithfully”, not “I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States”. He did not take the oath that the Constitution requires.

Maddow: So that means that until the president takes the oath, we’re a rudderless ship? That’s hardly what the framers had in mind. I mean, George Washington didn’t take the oath until the 30th of April back in 1789, even though his term started on the fourth of March. What is he to have done in the meantime?

Doocy: Look, we have to go by what the Constitution says, and it says he has to take the oath before he can execute the responsibilities of his office.

Myers: Well, surely there has to be some consideration to what is close enough, doesn’t there? Though a word was out of place, the meaning remains intact.

Doocy: But the Constitution says that the president shall take the following oath. Not some other oath that means about the same thing.

Maddow: The Constitution cannot be read literally. It’s like the Family Guy gag about “the right to bear arms”. Until the 20th century, most presidents had the oath read to them, like swearing in a court witness. The president would be asked, “Do you solemnly swear to execute the office of President of the United States”, and so on, and he would respond, “I do”. That’s equally valid.

Myers: All right. We’re getting off track here, so let’s get to our viewer questions. Remember that you at home can submit your questions using telephone, text message, E-mail, snail mail, facsimile, or the Oath of Interaction, which goes as follows: “I – your name and location here – do swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear interesting questions to Interaction and its hosts and panellists, according to my locality’s television schedule, so help me remote control.” Our first question today is by telephone, from Kate in Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Kate, are you there?

Kate in Ann Arbor: Yes, hello Debbie.

Myers: Hello Kate. What is your question?

Kate in Ann Arbor: This question is for Robin Meade. Hi Robin. Love your show. I watch it all the time.

Meade: Hi Kate. Thank you very much.

Kate in Ann Arbor: You’re welcome. I have a question about how everyone else on Headline News covers President Obama.

Meade: Actually, we’re HLN.

Kate in Ann Arbor: Of course you are. Anyway, do you think Headline News is more or less liberal than CNN? Support your statement with examples.

Meade: Is that a homework question, or what? Anyway, like I said, we’re HLN now. I think we and CNN both cover the news without any kind of political bias. Debbie, would you agree?

Myers: I’m British. I don’t watch American news programmes, except to research this show. Our next question is an E-mail from Sean in Westchester, PA, USA. Sean would like to know what a black president means to the United States. This question obviously fails to live up to the standards presented in the Oath of Interaction, as it has been covered to the point at which none of us could add anything interesting.

Stephanopoulos: Actually, I can add something interesting.

Myers: Really? Go ahead then.

Stephanopoulos: The fact that there is a black president is not, I think, what’s really important. I think it’s more that we have a president like Obama, who can rally so many people behind a common cause. I think he’s going to be a very nontraditional president, as we’ve seen with his use of social networking and the Internet. I think this is the start of taking the US in a different direction, in which people can interact with their elected officials like never before. I would expect to see many more government officials, right down to local commissioners, use the Internet in this way.

Myers: All right, that’s fairly interesting. Our next question is from Chantae in Oakland, CA, USA. Chantae, are you there?

Chantae in Oakland: Yes. Hi.

Myers: Hello Chantae. What is your question?

Chantae in Oakland: My question is for Steve Doocy and everyone at Fox News. I’ve seen the clips all week of you and all the Fox News people talking so much bullshit about how President Obama didn’t say the oath in the right order, or he didn’t use a Bible when he retook it, or all that shit. You keep saying that means he’s not the real president. Well, guess what? Barack Obama is the president! He is our president for four years, at least. So my question is, when are you going to accept that and start talking about actual news?

Doocy: I would say sometime in 2017.

Myers: Well, that’s good to know. That is all the time we have for this week. We would like to thank Mr Steve Doocy, Ms Rachel Maddow, Ms Robin Meade, and Mr George Stephanopoulos for joining us today. Next week we will be back in Warwickshire, where we will be talking about international comedy and how the norms and assumptions of humour are different in various countries. We’ll be joined by television and stand up comedians from Mexico, Germany, Somalia, and Georgia. So until we see you then, good night.

Doocy: I’d like to hear the Somalian comedian. “A funny thing happened on the way to the empty government house.”

Maddow: Is it too late to hit the Bullshit Button?