(Newser)
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Barack Obama thinks the Republican Party has backed itself into a corner that's "far out of the mainstream" and even "contrary to a lot of Republican precepts"—and that Mitt Romney is stuck with it. "I don't think that their nominee is going to be able to suddenly say, 'Everything I've said for the last six months, I didn't mean,'" Obama told Rolling Stone as part of a lengthy interview. "When you're running for president, people are paying attention to what you're saying."
Other highlights from the interview included:
- On his relationship with John Boehner: "It's not frosty. … When John Boehner and I sit down, I enjoy a conversation with him. I don't think he's a bad person."
- On Republicans in Congress: "Frankly, I know that there are good, decent Republicans on Capitol Hill who … would welcome the capacity to work with me," but they're "lying low" because "folks like Rush Limbaugh and Grover Norquist are defining what it means to be a true conservative."
- On race: "I never bought into the notion that by electing me, somehow we were entering into a post-racial period," but that his presidency is a "testimony" to how far the country has come.
- On singing Al Green: "I can sing. I wasn't worried about being able to hit those notes."
