Did I say that the President's entire job is image management? Of course not.

Because I would never work for a niche publication or a niche program on television and because I am a journalist and not an opinion person, my job is to try to see how many different points of view I can represent or how. It's not even a question of who you don't offend because you are always going to offend somebody. The question is how can you get people to listen to the information you have to present.

We needed someone to recognize the importance of check and balances, accountability, transparency. There was a real systemic problem at South Carolina State, a problem that has gone on for 25 or 30 years

Can't disagree with the need for a grasp of history.

I spent my career trying to speak to the broadest possible audience whether it's in print or whether it's in television.

I think I'm careful. My goal is to try to stay away as much from opinion journalism as possible.

History shows that people often do cast their votes for amorphous reasons-the most powerful among them being the need for change. Just ask Bill Clinton.