Rupert Murdoch Calls Obama A Rock Star and Says Olbermann Is Crazy

In a candid interview today (Thursday) at the Dow Jones sponsored "D" Conference in Carlsbad, California, News Corp Chairman & CEO Rupert Murdoch admitted that he was personally responsible for the News Corp-owned NY Post’s endorsement of Barack Obama during the New York Democratic primary. 

Murdoch called Obama a "rock star" who will likely win the general election.

Murdoch agreed that the tide is running against the Republicans.  He stated that the "average American today is really hurting financially" and said the public is "just sick to death" of politicians.

Per Republican nominee John McCain, Murdoch had this to say:

"He’s been in Congress a long time.   You gotta make a lotta compromises.  What’s he really stand for?  He’s a patriot.  He’s a friend of mine, a very decent guy.  He’s unpredictable  He doesn’t know much about the economy.  I think he has a lot of problems."

When asked who he was endorsing, Murdoch said "no one" but nevertheless expressed enthusiasm for Obama.

"I want to meet Obama.  I want to know if he’s going to walk the walk," declared Murdoch. "If you read his education policy, it’s just great.  The education system in this country is a total disgrace. "

The media titan expressed dismay over the continued candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

"Every one of her friends is saying for god sake get out.  Her husband is saying stay in there.  Mark Penn is saying ’stay in,’ and she’s not listening to anyone else.  I think Obama would never, ever give her the #2 spot.  He doesn’t want the Clintons around.  He wants a break with the past.  I want a complete break with the past.  I do know that [Obama] is a highly intelligent man.  He had a great record at Harvard. I just hope that he’s as good as he promises."

When asked point blank: "Did you have anything to do with the NY Post endorsing Obama in the NY primary?"….

Murdoch stated emphatically, "Yeah!"

And more from the Silicon Alley Insider:

And for good measure, [Murdoch] defended the lack of a liberal counterpart to Bill O’Reilly on Fox News: He’d hire one if he could find a good one, he argued. What about MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who’s now spending much of his time attacking O’Reilly and Fox? "No. I fired him 5 years ago," when he was on FoxSports: "He was crazy."

The vid of the Murdoch interview below, with conference creators and executive producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher: