Barack Obama: 'Various Distinctions About Rape Don't Make Too Much Sense to Me'
Leno asked Obama what he thought of Richard Mourdock
Oct. 25, 2012— -- President Obama appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Wednesday night to talk everything from controversial Senate candidate Richard Mourdock to Halloween candy.
Leno asked the president what he thought of Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, who said during a Tuesday debate that "even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something God intended to happen."
"I don't know how those guys come up with these ideas," Obama said. "Let me make a very simple proposition. Rape is rape. It is a crime. And so these various distinctions about rape don't make too much sense to me, don't make any sense to me. The second thing this underscores, though, is this is exactly why you don't want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about women's healthcare decisions."
Mourdock stood by his remarks during a press conference on Wednesday, and while the Romney camp issued a statement distancing himself from the candidate, a video of Romney supporting Mourdock is still circulating.
The Obama campaign has taken advantage of Mourdock's remarks to release a video online tying Romney to the Indiana candidate for the Senate. The video points out that Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan agrees with Mourdock in opposing abortions in cases of rape and incest.
Obama also addressed a promise from media mogul Donald Trump to donate $5 million to charity if President Obama released his college records.
"You know, this all dates back to when we were growing up together in Kenya," Obama quipped when Leno asked why Donald Trump appeared to have it out for the president. "We had constant run-ins on the soccer field. He wasn't very good and resented it, you know. When we finally moved to America I thought it'd be over."
Obama said he has not met Trump in person.
Obama also took time to clarify a few things for Leno. There is no gym on Air Force One, although there is a treadmill "in the bowels of the ship." Obama also said he's rooting for Detroit in the World Series "I didn't want to let Detroit go bankrupt!"
The discussion wasn't all humorous however. The two men talked about many topics that didn't come up during the debates, sich as the the fiscal cliff, Afghanistan and the European financial crisis. Leno also pointed out that the foreclosure crisis is still hitting many Americans hard.
"The biggest thing that we can do right now for the housing market," Obama said, "is to help people refinance their homes."
Regarding Europe, which was completely left out of the final foreign policy presidential debate, Obama said European countries "didn't respond as quickly as they could" to the financial crisis.
"It's important to us because that's our biggest trading partner," Obama said of Europe.
Leno asked the president a series of questions culled from social media, which led to a discussion of Halloween.
"It is an election year, so candy for everybody! And if anybody comes from Ohio to the White House, they will get a Hershey bar about this big…it'll be huge!" Obama joked about the swing state after Leno pointed out that Michelle Obama has handed out fruit in previous years.
Related Stories
ABC News Live