President Barack Obama on the View This A.M.

President Barack Obama will make TV history this morning by being the first US President to appear on a daytime television program. The show is-- 'The View': Satisfying 'how resilient the American people are'.
A partial transcript of the show is provided below:

ABC has released some transcripts of the interview early. Barbara Walters speaks with the President about the economy, the war in Afghanistan and his persona in the press.

Barbara Walters: But you know we said this has been a kind of difficult time for you, between the oil and questions of racism and Afghanistan and a few other little things. We understand that you sit at night with your daughters and your wife and you do the rose and the thorn, right? Do you still do it?

President Obama: We still do it. Although Malia is now at camp and Sasha is away at a friend's house, so it's just me and Michelle.

Barbara Walters: We'll do it for you. We'll do it for you. In the last month what has been the rose? And what has been the thorn?

President Obama: Well in the last month the rose has to be a couple of days we took in Maine with Michelle and Sasha and Malia, and we went on bike rides and hikes, and the girls are getting old enough now where they're not quite teenagers yet, so they still like you (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER), but they are full of opinions and ideas and observations, and it's just a great age. Malia just turned 12 and Sasha just turned nine, and it couldn't have been a better couple of days.

Barbara Walters: Thorn?

President Obama: Well, where do I begin here? (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

Barbara Walters: At the top.

President Obama: Obviously the country has gone through a tough stretch since I took office. When I was sworn in, I know you showed the Inauguration, we were losing at that time 750,000 jobs per month, the economy was shrinking at a pace of about 6.5%, which is unheard of since the Great Depression, and so the last 20 months has been a non-stop effort to restart the economy, to stabilize the financial system, to make sure that we're creating jobs again instead of losing them, and in the midst of all that we've also had the oil spill, we've also had two wars, we've also had a pandemic, H1N1, that we had to manage, and a whole host of other issues. What has been gratifying is the fact that the economy now is starting to stabilize and grow again, and what's been satisfying is seeing how resilient the American people are. As much as you said it's been tough for me, the truth is, it's not tough for me; you know I've got people, pundits on the news who may say things about me.

Barbara Walters: You noticed?

President Obama: Of course, you think about what the American people have gone through, losing jobs, seeing their home values go down, their 401Ks declining, those are the folks who I draw inspiration from because I get letters every night from them and I read them. And as tough as it's been, they remain hopeful, they remain optimistic about America, and so I don't spend a lot of time worrying about me. I spend a lot of time worrying about them.


The program airs today, July 29 at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.