What I'm thinking before interviewing President Obama...

Doing some final prep this morning for this afternoon's interview with the President which will air Sunday on Meet the Press.  Some people ask me whether he's overexposed.  I don't really feel like I'm the best one to say since I am happy to interview any president when he wants to take questions.  I think that's great for journalism and the country.  But make no mistake, the President knows the only way he can get health care done is by driving up some support for his plan - a plan battered by conservative opposition and some misinformation this summer.

One thing that's important about the debate over the debate right now is this: as Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn said during a recent interview on my program, a lot of the President's harshest critics feel like government is out of control.  That view can take on extreme forms as we have seen with the President being called a Nazi, or socialist.  House Speaker Pelosi also fears it will lead to violence as it did in the 70's or the 90's with Oklahoma City.

I'm curious to know what the President thinks about this and whether he agrees with President Carter or not about racism fueling his critics.

The challenge for Mr. Obama is to decide what is a distraction and what issues Americans expect him to address.