Posted by Adam

Tuesday September 22, 2009

American President Barack Obama has laughed off Jimmy Carter‘s suggestion that criticism of his health plan is rooted in racism.

“I think it’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election,” Obama joked, drawing roars of laughter during an appearance on David Letterman‘s The Late Show.

Obama’s interview aired Monday night on CBS.

The President turned serious when Letterman asked questions about race, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the state of the economy. “Unemployment is still going to be a big problem for at least another year,” he said.

It seems Barack has quite the sense of humor — he recently called rapper Kanye West a “jackass” after he crashed teen star Taylor Swift‘s acceptance speech at the recent MTV Video Music Awards.

“I thought that was really inappropriate, she’s getting an award, what are you butting in,” Obama said in an off the record comment to CNBC. “The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person, she’s getting her award, what’s he doing up there … he’s a jackass.”

Tags: barack obama, david letterman