Obama: Aloof Image Is Media Creation

Press corps miffed by quiet social life, he suggests
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 20, 2012 6:17 AM CST
Obama: Aloof Image Is Media Creation
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - JANUARY 19: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to a crowd of supporters at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom January 19, 2012 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Obama's speech addressed his 'We Can't Wait' initiative to create jobs partly through boosting travel and tourism.   (Getty Images)

President Obama isn't aloof, he says—it's just that he and Michelle don't tend to paint the town red. "My suspicion is that this whole critique has to do with the fact that I don’t go to a lot of Washington parties and, as a consequence, the Washington press corps maybe just doesn’t feel like I’m in the mix enough with them," he tells Time in an interview, noted by Politico. "And they figure, well, if I’m not spending time with them, I must be cold and aloof."

"Michelle and I don’t do the social scene, because as busy as we are, we have a limited amount of time, and we want to be good parents at a time that’s vitally important for our kids." The Obamas' social life has nothing to do with his clashes with Congress, he notes. "John Boehner and I get along fine. The problem was that no matter how much golf we played or no matter how much we yukked it up, he had trouble getting his caucus to go along with doing the responsible thing on a whole bunch of issues over the past year." Click to read the extensive interview. (More media stories.)

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