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Obama on The View (On Afghanistan, On Snooki)

July 29, 2010

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For anyone, like me, who happens not to right now be watching (and/or Twittering about), President Obama on The View (taped yesterday, broadcasting now), the New York Times‘ Jackie Calmes has summarized it here. In part:

Pressed to defend the military escalation in Afghanistan, in a week that began with the leak of documents detailing problems there through 2009, Mr. Obama said that he had pledged throughout his presidential campaign to end the war in Iraq but that the effort in Afghanistan, where the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were planned, must be increased to root out terrorists and eliminate a safe haven for them.

ā€œIā€™m not interested in open-ended commitment,ā€ he said, recalling that when he announced a new policy for Afghanistan last December, he said he was more interested in ā€œnation-buildingā€ at home.

Pressed on the reality TV show Jersey Shore, the president claimed to be unfamiliar with Snooki.

Also, that’s not the president on the president’s official Twitter account. That’s, Obama confessed, “some 20-year-old.”

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Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.