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WORLD> America
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'Tonight' is friendly turf for Obama
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-20 17:28
"I welcome the challenge," Obama said. "You know, I ran for president because I thought we needed big changes. I do think in Washington it's a little bit like 'American Idol,' except everybody is Simon Cowell," he said, referring to the popular TV music contest and its tough and sarcastic judge. Obama however said he believed Americans "understand it took us a while to get into this mess, it's going to take a while for us to get out of it." The president said that he was "stunned" to learn about the massive bonuses handed out to executives at government-rescued insurance giant AIG, a scandal that has rocked Washington over the past days. "The question is, who in their right mind, when your company is going bust, decides we're going to be paying a whole bunch of bonuses to people?" Obama asked. "That, I think, speaks to a broader culture that existed on Wall Street, where I think people just had this general attitude of entitlement." The problem, Obama said, "is what was happening for years, where people were able to take huge, excessive risks with other people's money, putting the entire financial system at risk -- and there were no checks, there were no balances, there was nobody overseeing the process." Obama appeared on the popular wisecracking show after striking a populist tone in a town hall meeting in unemployment-blighted California, alongside action-star turned Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The president's appearance shatters the formality that normally marks a US leader's television appearances. Aides said Obama's goal was to address a much wider audience for his plans to rescue the crippled US economy, save the banking industry and restore long-term prosperity. There were conflicting accounts of whether it was the first time a sitting president had appeared on the iconic show, which has run for more than 40 years with several presenters.
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