Think of two very skilled fighters getting in the ring for a little exhibition warm-up bout.

Both like the payday of big exposure they will get, but neither really wants to lay a glove on the other or draw blood. They just want to show off their moves, flick a few fast jabs across the other’s brow and dazzle the rubes out there in the cheap seats with their prowess.

That was the tenor and tone of the Bill O’Reilly interview with President Barack Obama Sunday. It was fascinating to watch because of how skilled each is in their role, but it was all a symbolic dance between the presidency and the press on an undeclared national holiday — nothing truly consequential happened.

Perhaps, the most important determining factor took place off-stage before the interview — the State Department intervening to help Fox News correspondent Greg Palkot and videographer Olaf Wiig during last week’s bloody events in Cairo. Both were beaten and taken to a hospital during the week.

As viewers heard Sunday, O’Reilly thanked Obama extensively for the State Department getting involved in trying to assure the safety of Palkot and Wiig. In the wake of such actions on behalf of other Fox employees, I think it would have been very hard — if not unseemly — for O’Reilly come to out of the box breathing fire and trying to hammer Obama.

Read the Full story at  Z on TV: O’Reilly-Obama: Friendly sparring for the Super Bowl

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