Out of all the questions in the world....Obama is asked Why Do People Hate Him so Much. - Oct. 15, 2009 -
ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: President Obama, like any other President, has his fair share of critics. Even fourth-graders have noticed.
"Why do people hate you?", a fourth-grade boy asked Obama at a town hall event in New Orleans today. "They're supposed to love you. And God is love."
"That's what I'm talking about," replied the President.
"First of all, I did get elected president, so not everybody hates me," Obama noted, before adding, "What is true is if you were watching TV lately, it seems like everybody's just getting mad all the time. And I -- you know, I think that you've got to take it with a grain of salt. Some of it is just what's called politics where, you know, once one party wins, then the other party kind of gets -- feels like it needs to poke you a little bit to keep you on your toes."
"And so you shouldn't take it too seriously," Obama told the boy. "And then, sometimes, as I said before, people just -- I think they're worried about their own lives. A lot of people are losing their jobs right now. A lot of people are losing their health care or they've lost their homes to foreclosure, and they're feeling frustrated. And when you're president of the United States, you know, you've got to deal with all of that."
"You get some of the credit when things go good. And when things are going tough, then, you know, you're going to get some of the blame, and that's part of the job," he continued. "But, you know, I'm a pretty tough guy."
"You've just got to keep on going, even when folks are criticizing you, because -- as long as you know that you're doing it for other people, all right?" Obama concluded.
The boy's question was the last one the President fielded at his event at the University of New Orleans, his first trip to the city since being elected to the Oval Office.
- Matthew Jaffe
