President Obama isn’t shy about expressing his pop-culture opinions (dude seriously loves The Wire), even if it means putting one of the entertainment world’s biggest d-bags in his place.

Asked recently if he prefers Kanye West or Jay-Z, the Pres responded that he’s a Jigga man without missing a beat. Makes sense – Jay is like the Obama of hip-hop: laid back, brilliant, incredibly successful. But at the end of the day, Barry is a politician, so he took the time to pat Kanye on the back, so as to prevent any crying or barrages of all-caps hate-tweets.

“I like Kanye,” said Obama. “He’s a Chicago guy. Smart. He’s very talented.” The interviewer then reminded the President that he once called Kanye a jackass…and the man stood his ground. “He is a jackass,” Obama replied. “But he’s talented.”

See how he handled that, America? That’s why we need this guy around for four more years. Can you imagine the blindingly white fashion in which Mitt Romney would respond to these questions? “Well, I imagine they’re both talented rappists, but Kenya and Jeezy are not what makes this country great…what’s that? They’re both super rich? Well, maybe these hippity-hoppity fellows aren’t so bad, after all.”