Video via Politico

President Obama gave a lengthy interview to CNN on Friday morning, in which he discussed everything from Egypt and Syria to surveillance and the bravery of Antoinette Tuff.

But the fun stuff came when the president got to talking about the do-nothing Congress, which, he feels, doesn’t have “a whole lot of core responsibilities,” but one of those is “passing a budget, which they have not done yet.”

“The other core responsibility that they’ve got is to pay the bills that they’ve already accrued,” he insisted. “And if Congress simply does those two things when they get back, then the economy can continue to recover.” Obama suggested that Congress watch old episodes of Schoolhouse Rock to be reminded of how things are supposed to get done.

When the subject turned to the impending “government shutdown” intended to block the Affordable Care Act from taking full effect, the president was pretty clear about who he thinks really wears the pants in the Republican Party:

I’ve made this argument to my Republican friends privately, and, by the way, sometimes they say to me privately, “I agree with you, but I’m worried about a primary from, you know, somebody in the Tea Party back in my district,” or, “I’m worried about what Rush Limbaugh is going to say about me on the radio. And so you got to understand, I’m — it’s really difficult.”

Well, you know what? I can’t force these folks to do what’s right for the American people, because they’re independently elected, it’s a separate branch of government, and I don’t have a vote in Congress. But what I sure as heck can do is stay focused on what I know will be good for the American people.

In a sane political landcape, the implication that the drug-addled talk-radio gasbag is the true leader of the party should come as an insult to Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, but we know better, don’t we? In the Republican version of reality, Reince is more than happy to let Rushbo take the wheel, having recently suggested that the right-wing bloviator would be the perfect moderator for the next round of presidential debates.

That’s not likely to happen, though, because the ever-humble Rush thinks he would outshine the entire spectacle. “I don’t see how I can,” he sniffed. “I’m too famous.”