Marc Maron and President Obama had a relaxed and fascinating one-hour conversation in Maron's Pasadena, California garage, where Maron produces his popular WTF Podcast. Obama used the "N" word (in talking about racism), gave his thoughts on voters' expectations for rapid Hope and Change, discussed his interest in improving police-community relations, and much more.
I learned more about how Obama thinks in this interview than any TV interview I've listened to.
Vanity Fair ran an article about how Maron prepared for the interview, and the security precautions undertaken by the Secret Service.
“A few days before the interview, the Secret Service started coming up, looking around the house, seeing what the perimeter was, figuring out how they can secure the house. They set up the isolated phone lines that are necessary for the president to have wherever he is. . . . They had to figure out how to do it in my garage, where [to place] the Secret Service. They had to have an archivist here recording it. They tried to put a sniper on the garage but it was too noisy. So they had to go on my neighbor’s house. They wanted everything out of the garage that was going to be in the path of the president—the boxes of books and piles of stuff that I had in here. They wanted anything that could be dangerous in the garage taken out.”
Maron did not even have to worry about providing coffee.
“The president actually traveled with White House catering,” Maron explained. “They travel with this huge motorcade that includes restroom facilities. It included a person in charge of the food. He left a cup here, a to-go cup. The president of the United States uses a to-go cup, with the presidential shield on it and a coaster napkin that they brought in for him.”
