INSTA-REVIEW: O Vs. O’Reilly

BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD A visibly nervous Bill O’Reilly desperately tried to balance his otherworldly patriotism with his overbearing hatred of Democrats when he interviewed President Obama during the Super Bowl pregame. What resulted was an unnerved and arguably unprofessional interview from O’Reilly and a collected President Obama, who took most questions in stride. O’Reilly’s concern for Egypt seemed obligatory judging by the quickness with which he bypassed a substantive discussion and his casual disregard for Obama’s view on the situation — The President’s opinion on the situation in Egypt hasn’t changed or wavered much in the few days since he vocalized them to the nation. Bill hardly seemed enthused, and quickly turned to the Obamacare dispute instead. After repeatedly painting himself into a wall and in serious danger of looking flat-out stupid, O’Reilly put a halt to discussion with a series of interruptions and rude-ish remarks making for a brief hiccup in the professionalism and sense of decorum, but that’s nothing uncharacteristic for Fox News. O’Reilly pulled a quote from the notoriously partisan Wall Street Journal editorial page, which calls Obama a left-leaning politician in favor of an “entitlement state.” Obama responded to Bill, “Well, The Wall Street Journal would probably paint you as a pretty left-wing guy… That’s like quoting the New York Times’ editorial page.” O’Reilly was visibly disturbed by the prospect that he may not be “right-wing enough” for the Murdoch-empire. O’Reilly shook his head, looking off in the distance, muttering “No no no.” The most poignant moment came when O’Reilly asked, “Does it disturb you to know so many people hate you?” There were plenty of ways Obama could have answered this one, including “Ummm… No thanks to you, shithead,” and “I know you are, but what am I?” Instead, the president gave a cool-headed response — “The people who dislike you, they don’t know you. They hate whatever funhouse mirror image of you that’s out there.”