talk show president

Obama will sit on Jay Leno's comfy chair tomorrow evening. He's been on it before (the above photo is from 2007), just as he's sat down with David Letterman and Jon Stewart in the past. But tonight's appearance is a significant event: it's the first time a sitting president has appeared on a comedy show.

This is causing some predictable grumbling and shaking of heads. Here's former Bush #41 speechwriter Mary Kate Cary (because why have one Christian name when you can have three?):

Doing Jay Leno lessens the stature of the office, and diminishes the man. On Leno, he becomes just one more talk show guest, a celebrity on the circuit promoting his latest movie or book. It's a decision that speaks volumes about Obama's approach to the office.

Well, we'll see. Perhaps Americans will wake up on Friday morning thinking, "That Obama, he's just another celebrity. I might as well expect Bruce Willis to lead us out of recession." But I doubt it. Obama's honeymoon may have ended, but his aura - a combination of his personal charisma, and the trappings of office - is far too strong to be diminished by a talk show appearance.

Axelrod and co. will have thought this through very carefully, because they think through every aspect of Obama's public appearances very carefully, and I'm guessing that they've concluded that in these anxious times it's more important than ever that the president cultivates a personal bond with the public - and that a little informality can go a long way towards that.

Such a strategy wouldn't work for all presidents. With Dubya, going on a talk show would merely have reinforced the perception, prevalent during his second term, that he was a jokey fella from over the way who had somehow ended up in the White House via some unfortunate accident. But Obama's vulnerability, in image terms, is the opposite to Bush's. As we saw during the campaign, his problem is that he can sometimes seem too cool, and too far from the ground. He had to work hard, particularly in the latter stages of his battle with Clinton, to persuade voters that he was a real human being and not just an "icon" who only came to life in front of 80,000 people. Doing the Leno show is a chance to connect with people who need to feel, now more than ever, that the guy behind the podium is flesh and blood and not just a symbol in a suit.

Comments

[peter]

"Doing Jay Leno lessens the stature of the office, and diminishes the man. "

And wearing a bomber jacket and jumpsuit as GWB landed on the platform of an aircraft carrier to declare success in Iraq somehow did not diminish the stature of the office?

[dp]

I'll be waiting to see if that infamous 'elbow tap'makes an appearance. We know he had to be a control-freak to get into the White House, and has to continue being one lest the government devolve into a herd of cats. But if he's stepping out for a bit of comic relief, I'd expect him to show some easy sociability. Keep an eye on his fingers.

[ogilvy]

Any eventually embarrassing gibe on Leno will be more welcome to Obama than the death of a thousand cuts he's been getting lately elsewhere -