Barbara Walters Tells Barack Obama: I'm Retiring Next Year

Say it aint so! The View host and ABC Newsmaker Barbara Walters tells the president of the United States that she is retiring next year. Walters interviewed Obama at the White House, during a break in the interview Walters leaned over and told the Prez, "I need one more interview with you because I'm retiring next year."

Silly Barbz didn't know that her mic was still on and lots of people on the interview set heard this admission. One of those bystanders went and told this to TMZ. 

I'm going to miss Barbara Walters and her glassy eyes, slow and steady delivery and that accent that walks a fine line between a British person and what a porcelain doll would sound like if it learned how to talk.  

However, like Larry King, Oprah and Regis Philbin, she may "retire" but continue to do yearly specials, like her Most Fascinating Person of the Year special, which aired last night and named people like the Kardashians, Katy Perry, Pippa Middleton and Donald Trump as some of the most fascinating people of 2011. Whether you think those people were fascinating or not, and most of you didn't, Barbara stood by her decision to include some people on that list. 

Here's what she said about the Kardashians, "The whole idea of this program that we’ve been doing for 18 years is to pick people who have made an impact and whether you like or don’t like it the Kardashians were a controversial choice,” Barbara told us. “We did Jersey Shore last year and no one objected. [The Kardashians] strike a different chord.”