Photo: The New Yorker

In excerpts last night of the unprecedented five Sunday talk shows President Obama will appear on to talk about his health plan tomorrow, he spoke out about the growing debate over whether Joe Wilson and those crazy people with signs are motivated by racism, saying typically Obama-like things like:

“Look, I said during the campaign there’s some people who still think through a prism of race when it comes to evaluating me and my candidacy. Absolutely,” Mr. Obama told NBC News. “Sometimes they vote for me for that reason; sometimes they vote against me for that reason.”

But that was as far as the president would indulge cries of racism — he says that the reason people are all riled up has more to do with the actual change he's trying to effect, and the tendency of the media to show only the most extreme elements. The Times story quotes the president adding a caveat to Warhol's famous prediction:

“The easiest way to get 15 minutes of fame,” Mr. Obama said, “is to be rude to someone.”

Thanks, Mom.

[NYT]