Obama on 60 Minutes: Geithner good, Cheney bad

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AARON TOMLINSON/CBS NEWS/AP
President Obama will appear on 60 Minutes tonight. Taking up the full hour, the president discusses the economy, the bonus tax, healthcare, automakers' bailouts, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Just like movie studios release excerpts of upcoming films to generate excitement and hopefully a big audience, that's what 60 minutes is doing to preview President Obama's appearance on the news show tonight.

And as disgruntled moviegoers know, half the time the trailers are better than the actual movies. Here's hoping that tonight's show fares better than this dog, this flop, or this disaster.

It should do well. To make sure it was interesting, they interviewed him for over 90 minutes (and the teleprompter wasn't invited).

Based on the excerpts they released, if it were a movie, it could be called, "Geithner good, Cheney bad."

Roll the tape

Now to the excerpts:

If Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner were to offer his resignation, Obama wouldn't take it.

"Sorry Buddy, you've still got the job."

There's been no discussion of any resignations, Obama said.

"It's going to take a little bit more time than we would like to make sure that we get this plan just right. Of course, then we'd still be subject to criticism. What's taken so long? You've been in office a whole 40 days and you haven't solved the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression?"

The more the president stands by Geithner, the more conservatives salivate. Remember President Bush's "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" comment? They hope Geithner is the sequel.

Darth Vader

How about Dick Cheney's candid comments last week on CNN's State of the Union?

You remember when asked if he thought Obama's policies have made the U.S. less safe, Cheney curtly replied, "I do."

It would be a real surprise ending if the president agreed with him. He didn't.

"How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney? It hasn't made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment."

What about the released prisoners who have rejoined terrorist groups?

"There is no doubt that we have not done a particularly effective job in sorting through who are truly dangerous individuals … to make sure [they] are not a threat to us."

New swing set

CBS says Obama and 60 Minutes host Steve Kroft discussed a wide range of issues including the economy, the bonus tax, healthcare, automakers' bailouts, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Plus, you get to see President Obama's new swing set. Now sure, Obama may want to tell Joe Biden to go sit and spin sometimes, but this was a present for daughters Sasha and Malia.

We told you about it a couple weeks ago and many of you told us (in all caps) that this WASN'T NEWS! and asked, DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO WRITE ABOUT?

So we won't talk about it again. But you can click here to see it.

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