Obama's appearance on Leno can be watched in full here.
Overall, gaffe aside, this was a good performance (though let's hope it didn't diminish the office of the president, etc). He seems genuinely relaxed, and funny about life 'in the bubble'. He also shows his ability to explain the complexities of the financial crisis in lucid language and soothing tones. So soothing in fact that I felt like dropping to sleep as he was talking about it.
It's Leno who appears a bit nervous. At the end he describes it as "one of the best nights of my life". Bless.
So much for the recent NYT story that sorta kinda in-a-way implied something dubious about Obama's frequent use of Teleprompters. For people who managed to miss the '08 presidential campaign debates, his "Tonight Show" appearance should reassure them that yes, Obama is indeed capable of coherent expression while speaking extemporaneously.
Posted by: Lyle | March 20, 2009 at 04:29 PM
Oh God. Saw the gaffe after writing first, slightly self-righteous comment, which was based on Marbury's generally positive post. Am rather appalled and disappointed. The uniter, the one who aims to bring together people of all stripes, momentarily forgot that our nation includes people missing limbs and chromosomes and what have you. That must have stung the millions of Americans who live with such challenges and/or have loved ones who do. And I thought Biden was a loose cannon -- at least his only disability-related gaffe so far ("Stand up, Joe!") was due to not seeing a bloke's wheelchair, as opposed to mocking his use of one.
Hey, look, two self-righteous comments on one post. Must be a record for me.
Posted by: Lyle | March 21, 2009 at 05:49 AM