After deciding to stay away from the Gridiron Club – where everything is off the record, on both sides of the equation – the President has decided to go on Jay Leno:
Obama to appear on Leno – will he bring a teleprompter?
The news that President Obama will appear on Jay Leno’s show Thursday night could be told in a couple ways depending on what type of site you’re on.
More right-leaning: Faced with plummeting polls and Boston Tea Party-like rebellions popping up all over the country, President Barack Obama is attempting to save his faltering presidency by going to the last place that still accepts him: Hollywood.
More left-leaning: With rock solid poll numbers (higher than Reagan at this point in the presidency), President Barack Obama has the courage to leave the Washington echo chamber and talk to the common man.
Via Glenn Reynolds, who notes that the headlines have been getting less respectful of the President lately. Given the ludicrously over-enthusiastic treatment that the man got from them, it’s not before time. The sooner that the President gets it through his head that he’s just a man, the better off we’re all going to be.
Unfortunately, he’s not quite internalized it, yet – which is why he’s going to Leno, and not the Gridiron. Ed Driscoll thinks that Leno’s an easy gig; Mary Kate Cary thinks that it’ll be harder than the Gridiron. I end up on Ed Driscoll’s side in this argument; the Gridiron Dinner is one of those institutions that Official Washington’s set up to keep its members from going completely insane on the twin drinks of insane amounts of power and insane amounts of responsibility. And one very good way to do that is to sit there and take mockery and ridicule, when you’re not dishing it out on yourself. In contrast: Leno will be awed, the crowd will go wild with adulation, and Obama may bask in their regard for the duration of the show.
Mind you, I happen to agree with Mary Kate Cary that doing this diminishes the President, but not because of how the Presidency deserves more dignity than this. The Presidency is the Presidency. The office is independent of the man; it has its own forms and expectations, and will endure any one individual President. It will certainly survive its current holder going on a late night television comedy program. However, if I am right that the primary purpose of the appearance is to allow the President to bask again in uncritical adulation – to give him a taste of the sweetness of the campaign days – then Obama the man will be diminished by appearing on Leno. I’m sure that those days were sweet; but he was elected to toil in the service of his country, and a large part of his place in the history books will be determined by how much he ground himself down in our behalf. Unfortunately, I see no real evidence yet that he has any interest in giving anything of himself to us.
Which is a real pity.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Popularity is everything to him.
NeoKong (Diary) Wednesday, March 18th at 12:14AM EST (link)He craves it.
If he goes on Leno it will be a carefully scripted PR stunt.All talk will be rehearsed.All spontaneity will be false.
That was Bill Clinton’s trademark and it worked well.
You find sympathetic outlets and you milk it to the bone.
Listen to me now and hear me later.
Anything that is discussed will be arranged beforehand.Leno is on board.Only approved questions.It is an act.His whole career is an act.It ‘s a setup for the easily fooled.
Follow me on Twitter.
Only one difference
mikefisk (Diary) Wednesday, March 18th at 7:40AM EST (link)Bill Clinton, as slick as he was, could do the whole acting genuinely gregarious bit. That’s who he is; he’s a natural schmoozer and self-promoter. Love or hate his politics, he has the whole stage presence thing down to a science.
Obama, on the other hand, seems to be one of those people that, when friends of mine met him at campaign events, reported back “I think he’s a nice enough person, just he comes off as a total stereotypical geek when off the podium.”
Clinton was comfortable in his own skin (possibly too comfortable for his own good), Obama is, in this regard, nearly Slick Willie’s polar opposite.
Hence the tightly controlled Leno gig.
“Once within the maw of Leviathan, degree of digestion is irrelevant.” – Michael Fisk
9.25, -4.77
Again, until we fix the stranglehold of the NEA
Doc Holliday (Diary) Wednesday, March 18th at 12:20AM EST (link)and the drive by media, he will always have this ace up his sleave.
# I hate explaining my points, but to be clear to all, I am saying people are dumb.
Molon Labe!
I really like the comments
JoeG Wednesday, March 18th at 1:36AM EST (link)In the linked article.
sniff sniff; Oh come on Republicans, can you stop criticizing Obama?
NO… WE’VE HAD 8 YEARS OF WATCHING HOW TO DO OPPOSITION. WE WILL GIVE BACK ALL YOU GAVE!
Live by the teleprompter
red4ever (Diary) Wednesday, March 18th at 2:02AM EST (link)Die by the teleprompter.
Apparently, there was a glitch with the teleprompter at the St. Patrick’s Day party at the White House.
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
Dante
Obama; Ever the Populist
Marcus_Traianus (Diary) Wednesday, March 18th at 7:12AM EST (link)I heard Obama has expanded his list of events when in LA;
- He will be the master of ceremonies for Disney’s “Parade of Dreams”
- Next, he will walk down Hollywood Boulevard and shake hands. Obama will also be lobbying for a star on the “walk of fame” (paid for by stimulus money)
- Third event, I believe, is opening a new lions den at Griffith Park/LA Zoo. Rumor is Obama will refer to it as a fitting place for AIG bonus recipients (or Geithner- take your pick)
- Fourth event, Obama will go to the border and welcome those illegally trying to cross the border (they will be voters by the next election if Obama has his way- and we kknow every vote counts)
- Last, he will end up with a fund raiser at Spago. Rumor is he extended mandatory invitations to AIG bonus recipients. Apparently, their donations will be considered philanthropic and receive tax deductions
Final rumor is he may stop by for a taping of Dr Phil. He is doing a segment on narcissists with God complexes
“Both of our political parties, at least the honest portion of them, agree conscientiously in the same object—the public good; but they differ essentially in what they deem the means of promoting that good. One side believes it best done by one composition of the governing powers; the other, by a different one. One fears most the ignorance of the people; the other, the selfishness of rulers independent of them. Which is right, time and experience will prove.”.Thomas Jefferson
Obama; Ever the Populist
Marcus_Traianus (Diary) Wednesday, March 18th at 7:12AM EST (link)I heard Obama has expanded his list of events when in LA;
- He will be the master of ceremonies for Disney’s “Parade of Dreams”
- Next, he will walk down Hollywood Boulevard and shake hands. Obama will also be lobbying for a star on the “walk of fame” (paid for by stimulus money)
- Third event, I believe, is opening a new lions den at Griffith Park/LA Zoo. Rumor is Obama will refer to it as a fitting place for AIG bonus recipients (or Geithner- take your pick)
- Fourth event, Obama will go to the border and welcome those illegally trying to cross the border (they will be voters by the next election if Obama has his way- and we kknow every vote counts)
- Last, he will end up with a fund raiser at Spago. Rumor is he extended mandatory invitations to AIG bonus recipients. Apparently, their donations will be considered philanthropic and receive tax deductions
Final rumor is he may stop by for a taping of Dr Phil. He is doing a segment on narcissists with God complexes
“Both of our political parties, at least the honest portion of them, agree conscientiously in the same object—the public good; but they differ essentially in what they deem the means of promoting that good. One side believes it best done by one composition of the governing powers; the other, by a different one. One fears most the ignorance of the people; the other, the selfishness of rulers independent of them. Which is right, time and experience will prove.”.Thomas Jefferson
Oh..you were kidding...
larryp Wednesday, March 18th at 10:43AM EST (link)I wasreading that list and I thought, well yeah, that dolt or President dolt could do theose phony thing…my jaw dropped but hey a star on HWOF –sure why not two for Obama?
Then oh! I got to the last one– and I knew that Obie would neer admit he was a narcissist…He is too vain. HAhahahahahaha!
Worse than that Press Breifing
djemi (Diary) Wednesday, March 18th at 7:33AM EST (link)By that I mean his first press conference not that listening to BO giving mini speechs is truely a press anything. Leno might get to ask mayde half a dozen questions in the 45 mins he has, of corse you know that dear old David will be the one editing the show.
“If I can’t shoot rabbits,then I can’t shoot fascist”
“With age, comes Wisdom, but only if you are paying Attention, son” my ‘Old Man’
RS Help files (h/t JLenardDetroit) Grassroots in Michigan
Moes Strategy
But will Obama sit on the couch..
larryp Wednesday, March 18th at 10:46AM EST (link)when his segment is done, you know shucking and jiving and fist bumpin’ with the roickers and pneumatic babes???