President Obama, appearing on "The View," admitted that he was not invited to Chelsea Clinton's upcoming wedding -- but didn't mind at all, he told the five co-hosts of the daytime show, broadcast on Thursday.
Obama, asked by Sherri Shepherd if he was attending the wedding set for this weekend, Obama replied, "I am not going. It would be tough enough having one president at a wedding. You don't want two presidents at a wedding," what with all the Secret Service fuss.
But show founder Barbara Walters -- returning to show's couch for the first time since her heart surgery -- realized there was a detail to nail down and asked a follow-up question: "Were you invited to Chelsea Clinton's wedding?"
"I was not invited because I think Hillary and Bill properly want to keep this as a thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband," the president said, referring to his secretary of state and the former president. He added, "I'm letting you guys know now, y'all probably won't be invited to Malia's wedding or Sasha's wedding.""The View" co-hosts covered a range of serious public policy questions in the show as well as not-so-serious stuff and catching up on family news. (Malia, 12, is already off to overnight camp and Sasha, 9, is visiting friends, so it's just the president and first lady Michelle in the White House.) Co-host Joy Behar tested Obama on whether he was up on celebrity news.
"Just give me your first impressions," she asked. "Do you know Lindsay Lohan was in jail?"
"I actually know that, yes," Obama said.
"Does Mel Gibson need anger management?"
"I haven't seen a Mel Gibson movie in a while," Obama dodged. (The controversial actor is accused of spouse abuse and anti-Semitism.)
"Should Snooki run as mayor of Wasilla?" -- a reference to the "Jersey Shore" personality.
"I got to admit, I don't know who Snooki is," Obama said.
The president's communication team booked him for the interview in order to reach an audience of mainly women who may not be fixated on the 24-7 news cycle. It was the first time, according to ABC, that a sitting president has appeared on a daytime TV show.
Walters asked why Obama agreed to the booking. "You've gone through a little bit of a beating the last month," she said. "Do you really think that being on a show with a bunch of women -- five women who never shut up -- is going to be calming?"
Quipped Obama, "Look, I was trying to find a show that Michelle actually watched -- and so I thought, this is it, right here. All those news shows she's like 'Eh, let me get the clicker.' "
