It took me more than two weeks, but I finally sat down to watch President Obama’s live interview with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly prior to the Super Bowl.
I didn’t think O’Reilly was nearly as disrespectful as some have claimed. He interrupted the President on several occasions and dismissed some of his responses, but it seemed like a frank discussion to me.
Little transpired by way of substance, but I credit the President for agreeing to the interview. I didn’t doubt that he would hold his own on such a large stage, but this wasn’t exactly a fair and balanced journalist asking the questions.
The highlight for me came in Obama’s decision to conduct a nationally televised interview without wearing a tie and the two shots he took at O’Reilly for his decision to wear one himself.
Obama also answered that one of the worst parts of his job was the need to wear a jacket on Super Bowl Sunday.
Upon assuming the Presidency, Obama dispensed with the jacket and tie formality in the Oval Office, and since then, he has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to challenge and dispense with the nonsensical authority that society has bestowed upon a necktie and jacket.
Having decided to never wear a tie again, it is nice to see that the leader of the free world seems to at least be leaning toward my seemingly lonely end of the bell curve on this issue.
