Michael Smerconish Scores Face-to-Face Oval Office Interview with Obama


On Tuesday night, I met up with nationally syndicated 1210-AM talk show host, Inquirer columnist and MSNBC contributor Michael Smerconish at Philadelphia’s Chris’ Jazz Cafe to talk about my just-published interview with him in the November issue of Philadelphia magazine. And to drink gin martinis, naturally. It was there that the Villanova resident hinted that he might be interviewing Barack Obama in person one day soon.

Well, it’s been confirmed, and on Friday morning (barring an act of war or other similarly distracting event), Smerconish will be sitting face-to-face with Obama in the Oval Office for an interview that will be broadcast on Friday afternoon. This will mark Smerconish’s seventh interview with Obama (three times with candidate Obama and four with President Obama) and the first where the two will be sitting together in the hallowed Oval Office.

A previous Obama-Smerconish Oval Office interview actually took place with Smerconish in a remote location and the President speaking from the Oval Office. The face-to-face interview captured in the above photo and the video (below) was conducted in August 2009 in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room.

Smerconish ruffled his share of right-wing feathers in 2008 when the normally Conservative host (now a registered Independent) endorsed Obama in the election. When I interviewed Smerconish for the article in the November issue, I asked him to tell me about what really pisses him off. He responded: “[When people] say that I voted for Obama in 2008 to boost my job. Not exactly a career enhancer in a conservative industry.

Still, Smerconish’s career hasn’t exactly tanked since that endorsement, having included a major national syndication deal and regular appearances on MSNBC. He was a guest on the Today show on Wednesday.

Not bad for a guy who was just dissed by Led Zeppelin.