Fox News host Elisabeth Hasselbeck asserted on Tuesday that it was "inappropriate" for the president of the United States to be promoting laws that he worked to pass, and was constitutionally charged with executing.
Earlier this week, the president had spoken to Zach Galifianakis, host of Funny or Die's web series Between Two Ferns, about why it was important for people to sign up for the Affordable Care Act before the March 31 deadline.
"Should the president of the United States being doing this online?" Fox News host Brian Kilmeade asked. "With Will Ferrell's online site, with Zach Galifianakis, playing the straight man?"
"It is so inappropriate!" he added.
"It was inappropriate for who?" co-host Peter Johnson wondered.
"For the president of the United States to be sitting down for an interview that's a mock up," Kilmeade explained.
"Some would argue that it's inappropriate for the president of the United States to be advertising a law!" Hasselbeck interrupted. "An insurance plan."
"The whole thing was a big mock up," Kilmeade replied. "I think it was pretty tragic."
"It seemed pretty real," Hasselbeck observed.
But President Obama isn't the first commander-in-chief to promote a law that he had signed.
In 2006, President George W. Bush made appearances to encourage Americans to sign up for the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit plan, which had gotten often off to a slow start.
"Anytime Washington passes a new law, sometimes the transition period can be interesting," the former president said during one event in New York. "I'm telling you, it's a good opportunity for you."
Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast March 11, 2013.
