About those chuckles...

So, the President is coming under some criticism for chuckling during his interview last night on 60 Minutes. Frankly, interviewer Steve Croft chose to frame some of his questions in inanely hilarious ways, like here,

STEVE KROFT: There is a perception right now, at least in New York, which is where I live and work...

BARACK OBAMA: Right.

STEVE KROFT: ...that, um, people feel they thought that you were going to be supportive. And now I think there are a lot of people say, "Look, we're not going to be able to keep our best people. They're not going to stay and work here for $250,000 a year when they can go work for a hedge fund, if they can find one that's still working ...

BARACK OBAMA: Well, that... that... (LAUGHS)

STEVE KROFT: ... and make a lot more.

... truthfully, Croft's lucky that the President didn't guffaw out loud and slap his knee.

But, judge for yourself. See the rest of the chuckles, after the jump.

STEVE KROFT: Your Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been under a lot of pressure this week. And there have been people in Congress calling for his head.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yeah.

STEVE KROFT:Have there been discussions in the White House about replacing him?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: No.

STEVE KROFT: Has he volunteered to, or come to you and said, "Do you think I should step down?"

PRESIDENT OBAMA: No. And... and he shouldn't. And if he were to come to me, I'd say, "Sorry, Buddy. (LAUGHS) You... you've still got the job."

...

STEVE KROFT: Your Treasury Secretary’s plan… Geithner's plan, and -— your plan really -— for solving the banking crisis was met with very, very, very tepid response. And you had a lot of people criticize… a lot of people said they didn't understand it. A lot of people said it didn't have any -— enough details to... to... to solve the problem. I know you're coming out with something -— next week on this. But these criticisms were coming from people like Warren Buffett, people who had supported you, and you had counted as being your...

PRESIDENT OBAMA: And... and... and... and Warren still does support me. But I think that understand Warren's also a big player in the financial markets who's a major owner of Wells Fargo. And so he's got a perspective from the perspective of somebody who is part owner of a bank. You've got members of Congress who've got a different perspective. Which is, "We don't want to spend any more taxpayer money." You've got a whole host of players, all of whom may have a completely different solution. (LAUGHS) Right?

And, you know, one of the challenges that Tim Geithner has had is the same challenge that anybody would have in this situation. People want a lot of contradictory things. You know, the... the... the banks would love a lot of taxpayer money with no strings attached. Folks in Congress, as well as the American people, would love to fix the banks without spending any money. (LAUGHS) And so at a certain point, you know, you've got just a... a very difficult line... to... to walk.

...

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I just want to say that the only thing less popular than putting money into banks is putting money (LAUGHS) into the auto industry. So...

STEVE KROFT: 18 percent are in favor.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: (LAUGHS) That's...

STEVE KROFT: Seventy-six percent against.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: It... it... it's not a high number.

...

STEVE KROFT: You're sitting here. And you're, you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, "I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about (LAUGHTER) money.” How do you deal with...? I mean, wh... explain...

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well...
STEVE KROFT: ...the mood and your laughter.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yeah, I mean, there's got to be...

STEVE KROFT: Are you punch drunk?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: No, no. There's gotta be a little gallows humor to (LAUGHS) get you through the day. You know, sometimes my team talks about the fact that if... if you had said to us a year ago that the least of my problems would be Iraq, which is still a pretty serious problem, I don't think anybody would have believed it. But... but we've got a lot on our plate. And a lot of difficult decisions that we're going to have to make.

...

STEVE KROFT: Have you gotten lost in here [The White House] yet?

BARACK OBAMA: I have. Repeatedly. (LAUGHTER)