President Barack Obama sits down with Rolling Stone in the White House’s Oval Office for its October 15 issue.
Here’s what the 49-year-old Commander in Chief had to say about his presidency, what’s new on his iPod, and what makes him cry.
On what surprised him during the first two years in office: “Over the past two years, what I probably anticipated but you don’t fully appreciate until you’re in the job, is something I said earlier, which is if a problem is easy, it doesn’t hit my desk. If there’s an obvious solution, it never arrives here — somebody else has solved it a long time ago. The issues that cross my desk are hard and complicated, and oftentimes involve the clash not of right and wrong, but of two rights. And you’re having to balance and reconcile against competing values that are equally legitimate.”
On his iPod’s 2,000 song collection: “Thanks to Reggie [Love, the president's personal aide], my rap palate has greatly improved. Jay-Z used to be sort of what predominated, but now I’ve got a little Nas and a little Lil Wayne and some other stuff, but I would not claim to be an expert. Malia and Sasha are now getting old enough to where they start hipping me to things. Music is still a great source of joy and occasional solace in the midst of what can be some difficult days.”
On wife Michelle and daughters Sasha, 9, and Malia, 12: “Whenever I think about my wife, she can choke me up. My wife and my kids, they’ll get to me.”
For the full interview, including Barack‘s thoughts on his critics, the war and the economy, go to