Obama and O’Reilly Square Off On Issues

On Sunday, an interview was aired prior to Super Bowl XLVIII on Fox News. Bill O’Reilly, a news show host on Fox News faced off with President Barrack Obama over the IRS scrutiny of conservative organizations, the problematic healthcare law rollout and the role played by the White House in the aftermath of the Libya terror attacks at a U.S. mission in Benghazi.

O’Reilly asked Obama when he knew there would be problems with HealthCare.gov.

Obama responded that they anticipated glitches because when technology is involved and a new program is rolled then problems are bound to take place. However, Obama said he did not nor does he believe anyone anticipated the amount of problems that would occur.

O’Reilly asked why the President did not fire Kathleen Sebelius the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Obama replied that everyone was held accountable for what happened but since they are currently in midstream, the priority is making sure the site delivers for the people of the U.S.

O’Reilly then spoke about the terrorist attacks in 2012 on the diplomatic mission in Libya and the controversy in their aftermath.

He told the president it was believed by many that his reelection team attempted to downplay the motivation that caused the attacks.

Obama told O’Reilly that his administration told what happened to the U.S. public soon after they had learned about. The president said people believe certain things because the press, including O’Reilly tells them.

O’Reilly then said that Douglas Shulman, the former chief of the IRS had been cleared 157 times to visit the White House, which was more than any of the cabinet members of the president or any other official with the IRS in its history.

Obama told O’Reilly that was due to the IRS and Healthcare.gov being set up. He also said that the IRS was involved in some financial reforms that were set up to make sure that bailouts funded by taxpayers would not be needed in the future.

O’Reilly said people believe the Cincinnati IRS office was used to go after Tea Party organizations. Obama said that was absolutely wrong. Obama called some of the decisions from the Cincinnati office bone-headed, but no corruption took place.