Prior to the Superbowl, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly staged an interview with President Obama that is attracting increasing comment for its tone rather than its content.

It wasn't the lively exchange of political views that distinguished the exchange.

The fact is that O'Reilly rudely interrupted the President no less than 48 times (in the process introducing himself into the national conversation) and setting a new benchmark for coarse incivility and disrespect toward the Commander in Chief.

How does this unchecked belligerence look to the nation and the world? Remember President Obama was elected by the American people by historic margins. O'Reilly, who claims he is a patriot, should have contemplated the implications of that before launching his ignorant salvos.

To see the President spoken to in such a relentlessly condescending manner by O'Reilly, when Obama has made every effort to change the political tone and reach across the aisle in Washington, was nauseating.

Who does Bill O'Reilly think he is?