Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod told CSPAN yesterday that his discussion about health care with a heated Sen. Al Franken earlier this week was "a very good exchange."
Axelrod was referencing reports in Politico and the Huffington Post that Franken argued with him (or "ripped into" him, to quote Politico) over the White House's lack of leadership on health care reform efforts.
"I think we had a very good exchange," Axelrod said. "As I said, he expressed his feelings about this. I thought [I] responded very candidly to him. And it was a good airing of views."
He then referenced Stuart Smalley, one of Franken's most famous characters from his career as a comedian.
"At the end of it, as I was watching Sen. Franken I thought to myself, 'However this turns out, I'm good, I'm smart, and doggone it, people like me. I was OK with it.'"
See the full video here (embed isn't working). The relevant bit starts at 13:13.
