Why is this inappropriate?

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_ ... bama_tweet

Barak Obama said that the reason Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's award acceptance speech to say that Beyonce should have gotten the award was that "He's a jackass." He didn't even say this in an official interview, he said it off the record. Kanye West has apologized for the incident and seems to think the same thing of himself anyway. What I don't understand is why Obama's comment about it was inappropriate... it's not only true, it's what almost everybody thinks of the incident!

Someone in his position shouldn't even be seen to acknowledge that kind of thing really and especially shouldn't have such a strong opinion on it. Also it's not exactly presidential language.

Most likely this is a planted story though since I hear his approval rating has dipped. This kind of thing makes politicans seem more real apparently.

Okay, I read the article. The only time the word "inappropriate" appears is in the quote from President Obama, in which he's refering to the incident between Mr. West and Ms. Swift. However, what was inappropriate was for the comments to be released at all. There are clear rules regarding what is considered to "on the record" and what is "off the record" and any journalist who has ever covered a political beat knows them.

Political officials are allowed to have personal opinions, they just shouldn't make them public policy. In this case, the president was expressing a personal opinion in an environment that should have been safe for doing so. In fact, the reporter to whom the comment was made did not report it. It was reported by someone from another station who was eavesdropping on a shared fiber-optic line. The reporter was at one time a White House corresspondant. He knew the proper rules and he should have been perfectly aware that the comment was made in such a manner as to be "off the record." If he says otherwise, he's either an idiot who shouldn't ever be allowed to interview a public figure again, or a liar. His behavior was inappropriate because he violated the rules that bind journalists.

This is comparable to the incident during the first President Bush's term, when a journalist "friend" of First Lady Barbara Bush reported that she had called Hillary Clinton by an unfortunate epithet during an off the record conversation. That was also highly inappropriate for the reporter to do and very embarrassing for a First Lady who is, first of all, a true lady in her normal behavior. Hopefully, it will blow over just as quickly because the whole incident is just as silly.

But Kanye West IS a jackass!

No, no, no, I'm not going to get sucked back into judging a president on minutiae. He hasn't screwed the economy and he hasn't stared a WAR with another nation because of oil, his daddy, or his failing policies. Far as I'm concerned, if he can turn around the impossible situation he inherited he can dance around naked with a rubber glove on his head yelling, "Hi! I'm a squid!" and I'll still salute him.

Just like Kanye, Mr. Obama just cant keep away.

at least i agree with him for once. so

Usually the president probably shouldn't comment on stuff like this or call people jackasses but it was off the record so whatever. I want to see Kanye's reaction though, hopefully he's not on any telethons anytime soon.

Maybe all those fish sticks altered his personality.