Obama Goes to New York to Visit Barbara Walters and the United Nations

President Barack Obama visited New York City Monday for the opening of the United Nation General Assembly. When he arrived in the city, he immediately rushed towards his only public event of the day, which is the taping of ABC’s The View. He guested together with his wife, Michelle.

President Obama doesn’t have any scheduled bilateral meetings with any of the world leaders at the summit. Last year, he had 13 meetings. The president is set to speak before the 67th General Assembly Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel tried to set a meeting with President Obama was denied due to a conflict in schedules. The prime minister is not in New York when the president is in the city. Instead, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the one who will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Not meeting with world leaders a few months before the election can help President Obama avoid making embarrassing hot-mic gaffes. Earlier this year, the president asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to be more flexible on the missile defense until after the election. This was caught by the microphone.

During the taping of The View, President Obama was asked about foreign policy issues. He was asked about the attack in Libya last week that resulted in the death of US Ambassador Chris Stevens. The president said that the attack wasn’t an act of a mob.

This contradicted the previous assertions made by his administration that the assault was not premeditated. President Obama added that his government was now playing attention to the extremist groups aside from the al-Qaeda and other more established terrorist groups.

President Obama said that the toughest day so far in his presidency was when a helicopter crashed last August. It claimed the lives of 30 servicemen, including Navy Seals. He said that it was a reminder that freedom is not free.