Sneak Peek: Barack Obama on 'The View'

Barack Obama will appear on "The View" Tuesday, May 15. During his pre-taped visit, the President talked same sex marriage, the newest JP Morgan Chase debacle, Kim Kardashian and more.

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With an election under foot, some hot topics came up during the sit down with the ladies of "The View," including, of course, his recent chance of stance on gay marriage. But Obama earned a huge reaction from the audience when he talked about his hopes for America. 

 

"What I want to spend the next five years doing is recreating that America where if you work hard you can make it, regardless of where you come from, what you look like," Obama said in the clip above.

 

After a burst of applause, Obama pounced on the sentiments that America is declining and China is gaining on us.

 

"Let me tell you, I travel all around the world and everywhere you go, if you ask people 'Where would you want to be? What country [do] you admire? What cards would you like to have in your hand?' it’s what we’ve got," Obama insisted. "We’ve still got the finest workers in the world, the best universities in the world. We’ve the best scientists, the best entrepreneurs. We’ve got the best market system in the world.

"So we’ve got all the ingredients for success for the next 100, next 200 years, but what’s happened is that our politics breaks down. We’ve become more obsessed with winning the election than setting things up for the next generation, and if we can break through that I could not be more confident or more proud of this country and the direction we’re headed."

"It will happen," he added. "I believe it."

When Barbara Walters brought up his recent change of stance on gay marriage, she questioned whether he'd fight to extend the rights of gay couples. As Walters pointed out, "They can’t file a joint income tax report; they don’t have social security that they can pass to each other."

 

"Keep in mind that on issues like social security, for example, a lot of this has to do with what’s called the Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA," Obama said. "It was passed, originally, when Hawaii started making noises about recognizing same sex marriage. The idea was we don’t want that drifting into the federal government. And this is part of the reason why my justice department has said to the courts, 'We don’t think the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional.' This is something that, historically, had been determined at the state level and part of my believing, ultimately, that civil unions weren’t sufficient - and I’ve been a longtime supporter of civil unions for same sex couples - was partly because of the issue of social security benefits or other laws, state taxes, things like that.

"You know part of it was also just knowing friends and family – people that I’d gotten to know who had these wonderful relationships," he added. "They’d say to me, 'You know what? The words matter. So even though you’re a strong supporter of civil unions, somehow it still says we’re different.' And that particular set of conversations that I had is ultimately what led me to this conclusion."

Obama didn't go so far as to say he'd fight to repeal DOMA, but did say, "Congress is clearly on notice that I think it’s a bad idea."

 

The President also discussed the JPMorgan Chase debacle and was quizzed on pop culture. Obama can either name the Karadashian who was married for only 72 days or the controversial sex book that’s on millions of women’s bedside tables. Tune in to find out which one and see what else the President had to say.

"The View" airs weekdays on ABC.