The Audio of Obama and Kanye

TMZ has the tape of President Obama calling Kanye West a "jackass."

Obama was doing an interview with CNBC on Monday when he made the remark. ABC's Terry Moran apparently picked it up from a live pool feed and then sent the comment out on Twitter.

If you've ever listened to long excerpts of the expletive-filled Nixon tapes, it's no big deal. But it's a rather rare bit of Obama off the cuff, which he as much as acknowledges when he talks about the trouble he got in with PETA for swatting a fly during a break in another interview. (Did they really complain?)

Politico's Michael Calderone interviewed CNBC's John Harwood, who says he considers the material off the record. 

What the audio also shows is that Obama is very, very in tune with pop culture, perhaps more so than any predecessor. He doesn't just talk about West but the incident itself, calling Taylor Swift "a nice young girl." Remember, since he came into office, he has made quips about "Gossip Girl," among other references.

Update: ABC News employees apparently were unaware that the material was off the record, and Harwood also says that that wasn't explicitly spelled out. Rather, it is a tradition during interviews that extraneous comments before and after the interview are considered off limits.