President Barack Obama gave a softball interview Thursday with a reporter who thanked him for Obamacare.
The president said that he spends time responding to angry emails that he receives and that first lady Michelle will decide what the Obamas do after leaving the White House.
“I get ten letters a night out of the forty thousand letters and emails and messages that we get, some of them are just saying thank you for something, some of them are saying you’re an idiot,” Obama said in an interview with “Extra” correspondent Jerry Penacoli.
Asked if he replies to the angry messages, Obama said that he does and it makes a positive difference.
“I do!” Obama said. “I think sometimes they are [surprised]. I try to address their concerns.”
The first lady, best friend of senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, will be the arbiter of what the Obamas do next.
“I think it’s safe to say it won’t be up to me, it will be up to Michelle,” Obama said
“A bunch of the furniture in this house, we bought… so there’s a bunch of furniture here that’s ours … sometimes people are surprised to hear, we pay for all our groceries!”
Penacoli used the interview as an opportunity to thank Obama for passing Obamacare, which Penacoli utilized while undergoing treatment for melanoma.
“I will tell you the number of stories I’ve gotten like yours. It’s made a difference in a lot of people’s lives,” Obama said of Obamacare.
Penacoli avoided any tough questions for the president, but the Hawaii-reared Obama did admit offhandedly that his daughters Malia and Sashia “work a lot harder than I ever did as a kid.”
Obamacare is currently facing a challenge at the Supreme Court in the King v. Burwell case, prompting another pro-ACA messaging tour by the president.
“Extra,” produced by Mario Lopez, is produced by Warner Bros. Television and syndicated on NBCUniversal stations.