Obama: Shouldn't 'relish' Qaddafi death footage
Qaddafi was buried in a secret desert location on Tuesday, five days after he was captured, killed and put on grisly public display. The former leader was seen on video being mocked, beaten and abused before he died.
"That's not something that I think we should relish," Obama told Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight Show," when asked his feelings about the footage being televised. "I think that there's a certain decorum with which you treat the dead even if it's somebody who has done terrible things."
Obama noted that his administration had not released a photograph of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's body after U.S. commandos killed him in Pakistan earlier this year.
The president said Qaddafi had missed a chance to bring democracy to his country.
"You never like to see anybody come to the kind of end that he did, but I think it obviously sends a strong message around the world to dictators that ... people long to be free," Obama said.
"He had an opportunity during the Arab Spring to finally let loose of his grip on power and to peacefully transition into democracy. We gave him ample opportunity, and he wouldn't do it."
Obama was in the middle of a western state tour with stops in Nevada, California and Colorado, mixing White House business with events for his 2012 re-election campaign.
Asked by Leno if he had watched the debates by his potential Republican rivals, Obama demurred.
"I'm going to wait until everybody is voted off the island," he joked, to applause. "Once they narrow it down to one or two, I'll start paying attention."
Eight serious candidates are running for the Republican presidential nomination. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and businessman Herman Cain are seen as front-runners.
On the lighter side
On lighter issues, the president said he had quit smoking "definitively." He continues to work out regularly but said his wife, Michelle, outperformed him in the excercise department.
"It's embarrassing sometimes," he said, describing work-outs in a White House gym.
"She'll get up there a half an hour earlier than me. She will have already run 10 miles or something."
Their kids, Obama said, are not allowed to watch television during the week and their oldest daughter, Malia, who has a cell phone, is only allowed to use it on the weekends.
Obama also revealed a distaste for reality-based television programs, when Leno challenged him for not liking a popular show about a reality star family, the Kardashians.
"I am probably a little biased against reality TV partly because, you know, there's this program on C-SPAN called 'Congress,'" Obama deadpanned. The president is in a heated battle with lawmakers in Congress over his stalled jobs bill.
Speaking of battles, the president pretended to fear a new one looming over Halloween because of the first lady's habit of handing out fruit to children instead of candy.
"She's been giving, for the last few years, kids fruit and raisins in a bag," he said. "And I said, "The White House is going to get egged if this keeps up."
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@Kashif:
I watched the entire show last night. It was very Presidential and American.
Even though I was personally offend in giving Osama a Muslim funeral (if Osama understood his religion he would not had done the things he did) but he was buried according to Islamic traditions. He was treated with respect and his gruesome pictures were NOT released.
We do respect human rights (well exception being under Baby Bush). For all the 42 years of atrocities, looting and plundering Libyan treasury he did deserved his day in court.
As for US forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Italy, Germany, UK, Denmark it is up to people. We will be pulling out of Iraq by end of the year. I cannot speak for countries with dictator we have NO control over except hope that these dictatorships fall namely Yemen, Bahrain, S. Evildom etc.
@moonglowsun: I am not supporting Osama, Yes he was a terrorist but Obama's line "...even if it’s somebody who has done terrible things.” says about a human.
@Hamid: I see a great difference between Osama and Qaddfi. Osama was a rogue terrorist living in any country that would offer him and his troops a safe harbor. Qaddfi led Libya for decades and therefore good, bad or indifferent had a country (HIS native country) to be buried in.
Its true. Despite all the ills he had done throughout his 42 yr dictatorship, the video was disturbing to say the least.
Yeah thats right. They should have wrapped him up in cloth, taken a worship out to sea, weighed him down and dumped him right in the middle of the ocean.