This Thursday, Barack Obama will appear on The View for the first time since becoming President. (The episode will tape on Wednesday while Obama visits New York City.) Brian Stelter at the New York Times has more on the decision, noting it as an example of the White House’s longtime strategy of courting “nontraditional” media.
The fact that The View is nontraditional media, however, and a daytime show at that, does not necessarily make it “soft media” or an easy interview. It’s true that the last time Obama went on the program, as a Presidential candidate, Barbara Walters called him “sexy.” But he also got a grilling from Elisabeth Hasselbeck over the Jeremiah Wright scandal; and The View had a notoriously tough interview during the 2008 interview with Sen. John McCain, in which Joy Behar charged him with lying in his campaign ads.
In some ways, I wrote at the time, The View did better in 2008 than some traditional media did. And they certainly have plenty of material to work with now.
