# Bill O'Reilly's pre-Superbowl interview with President Obama **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541 "2011-02-07T17:21:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/61 "2011-02-10T05:01:20Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > They forgot to give him control of the president’s mike. Or his dress code. I bet next time O’Reilly does an interview with Obama, he stipulates Obama wears a tie this time. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/62 "2011-02-10T12:55:35Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Or his dress code. > > I bet next time O’Reilly does an interview with Obama, he stipulates Obama wears a tie this time. O’Reilly is probably just amazed that the president didn’t start screaming “I want some motherfucking iced tea!” to the White House butler. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/63 "2011-02-10T15:20:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > O’Reilly is probably just amazed that the president didn’t start screaming “I want some motherfucking iced tea!” to the White House butler. Like the Obama White House is an R-rated version of The Jeffersons? I am afraid some people still think this way. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/64 "2011-02-10T15:36:58Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Like the Obama White House is an R-rated version of The Jeffersons? > > I am afraid some people still think this way. [Bill O’Reilly goes to Sylvia’s](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/25/national/main3296630.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/65 "2011-02-10T15:49:00Z")
Or just look at a [previous post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13445604&postcount=48) in this very thread. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/66 "2011-02-10T15:53:13Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > WTF was that football stuff about? Why was Bill on his case about whether he knew football? I took it as tough guy mocking. “Oh, do you prancing liberals know anything about football? Wouldn’t you rather be watching something gay, like the opera?” The basketball comments I didn’t take as racial, or an indication that a person is only capable of following one sport; I saw it as an attempt to simmer the absurd mocking about football. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/67 "2011-02-10T16:01:14Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Or just look at a [previous post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13445604&postcount=48) in this very thread. :smack: What hurts is that I do remember reading **Dewey** ’s post. Now. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/68 "2011-02-10T16:28:30Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I took it as tough guy mocking. “Oh, do you prancing liberals know anything about football? Wouldn’t you rather be watching something gay, like the opera?” The basketball comments I didn’t take as racial, or an indication that a person is only capable of following one sport; I saw it as an attempt to simmer the absurd mocking about football. Pretty silly exchange. And, O’Reilly is the Fox News commentator that I have the MOST respect for. I guess Fox does, too, since they didn’t send Hannity, Beck, or Palin to do the interview. Any one of those would have been much more entertaining, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/69 "2011-02-10T20:23:02Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > If you’re the president, you can use the army and navy to slap her back. Not the Marines? > [@DoctorJ](#): > > O’Reilly should consider himself lucky that the President put on pants for him. I’d have been tempted to conduct the interview through the door of the Oval Office crapper. LBJ would have. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/70 "2011-02-13T20:08:02Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Pretty silly exchange. And, O’Reilly is the Fox News commentator that I have the MOST respect for. I guess Fox does, too, since they didn’t send Hannity, Beck, or Palin to do the interview. Any one of those would have been much more entertaining, if you ask me. I imagine they tried, and the White House press staff were laughing too hard to respond. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/71 "2011-02-13T20:53:53Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Sorta bizarre. O’Reilly was relatively well behaved when he interviewed candidate Obama three years ago. May have been a strategic move. A lot of people (including myself) thought that Hillary Clinton was the most “electable” candidate the Democrats had. A conservative who believed that might have quietly hyped Obama in the expectation that he’d be more likely to lose to the Republican candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/72 "2011-02-13T21:24:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > May have been a strategic move. A lot of people (including myself) thought that Hillary Clinton was the most “electable” candidate the Democrats had. A conservative who believed that might have quietly hyped Obama in the expectation that he’d be more likely to lose to the Republican candidate. Googling, it appears it was in Sept. '08. Obama already had the Dem nomination. I think he was (relatively) polite because it makes sense. Both in terms of attracting other “big names” to be interviewed on his show, and because having a serious Presidential candidate on his show will attract viewers who aren’t necessarily regular O’Reily fans, and who will view O’Reilly yelling down someone whose opinion is obviously more important then O’Reilly’s as O’Reilly being an ass. Which is why it was weird he didn’t restrain himself more here. The same logic still applies. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541/73 "2011-02-14T05:11:30Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Yeah, but just because he plays basketball doesn’t mean he doesn’t know any other sport. In fact, I think that most people who are active in one sport are interested in other sports. **I doubt O’Reilly plays _anything_.** That’s not really fair. I’ve heard that he plays a pretty mean loofah, or would at least like to try. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-oreillys-pre-superbowl-interview-with-president-obama/570541.md?page=3)