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Bill Maher, Seth MacFarlane concede Obama’s inability to change Washington

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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Bill Maher filled the seat usually occupied by Piers Morgan on CNN, interviewing the creator of the Fox broadcasting network’s “Family Guy,” Seth MacFarlane. Both famously liberal celebrities conceded that Obama didn’t usher in hope and change as they had hoped.

They pointed to Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who said it was hard to change a nation.

MAHER: Let me ask you about politics, because I know you care a lot. I don’t think it’s any secret, you’re for Obama, but most progressives are to one degree or another disappointed. That’s what we hear all the time. Are you disappointed? What are you disappointed in?

MACFARLANE: I feel like if I knew, if I was in those little rooms or those big rooms —

MAHER: If you knew what he knew.

MACFARLANE: If I knew what was going on, I would be able to more effectively answer that question. I don’t know, because I — you know, I remember talking to Al Franken at one point, who said, you know, it’s a lot harder than you think to get anything done.

MAHER: More than ever.

MACFARLANE: Like if I went in there, you know, and he’s, in my opinion, one of the —

MAHER: Funniest senators ever.

MACFARLANE: Exactly. But he’s a, you talk to him and he’s able — he’s still — he’s a human being and you don’t get a sense that he’s sold out to the machine. He’s a good guy. And he’s very candid about it. He says it’s very hard to get things done. And so I don’t know. I mean, I think in the simplest —

MAHER: For gay marriage, he turned on that. I mean, that was — that is one of your —

MACFARLANE: How much of that was our friend Biden? I don’t know.

MAHER: Right. Well, it was a lot. But he — at the end of the day, he did seem to do the right thing, and I know that’s a big cause with you.

Even though Maher’s assessment of the president isn’t as glowing as it was in 2008, he announced in February during a stand-up routine for Yahoo, Maher announced that he would donate $1 million to Obama’s super PAC, Priorities Action USA.

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