The President was on ESPN the other day with his NCAA hoops bracket.

Yesterday on the Tonight Show.It's the way this President rolls.

I'm cool with it.

If the argument is that Obama is reaching millions of people who wouldn't otherwise be engaged in public affairs, that's a different problem and a sad commentary on the state of public affairs. He shouldn't drag the dignity of the office down to that level.

Agreed.

I think this speaks more to the sad state of the American media than it does any lessening of the dignity of the Oval Office. If we want the truth in America who do we turn to?

Leno is a softball for sure but the most hard hitting interviews in America are by Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and David Letterman.

With Fox News recent doctored video that had Vice President Biden appearing to say "the economy is sound", It is painfully obvious that American news is the joke. If we want truth, we turn to our comedians.

Obama wants his message out. I suspect he figures he will get better coverage and more honest questions on Leno than Meet the Press.

I was sort of ambivalent about it (except for the idiocracy aspects of feeling the need to do it to reach people) until I saw it. The whole setup is just wrong. You have idiot Leno sitting there at his desk presiding over Obama in the guest chair in almost a submissive posture. Not good.

And when he talks, you don't hear what he's saying. You're thinking about the last airhead actor or celebrity who was sitting there having a fake conversation with Leno that I am supposed to be interested in for some reason, and how Obama sounds and acts Just Like Them in that setting. Not good.

P.S. And I don't want to hang out with Obama or have a beer with him or think of him as one of the guys. I want to look to him for strong, capable leadership in tough times, and I want the rest of the world to look to him with respect.

"P.S. And I don't want to hang out with Obama or have a beer with him

Firstly, I hope like hell that Obama has people that from time to time he can do this with for the sake of his sanity, and to pierce the bubble and help keep him real.

Second, I have a couple of questions and some thoughts I would like to hit him with after he loosened up a bit. (Hey B...You know that clean coal crap is bullshit, right? We gotta kill coal before it kills us...The hood gotta have national healthcare on the first tier. I know we can't put the big boys out of business but we could give them the top levels of care and deliver basics from the fed...Duke's going Down!)

I totally agree with R Neal. Obama needs to stop campaigning, take ownership of the economic mess and get to reading all the crap congress writes before signing it. Then maybe he'd earn the respect the holder of that office deserves.

If you cant go on The Daily Show, then for sure don't go on The Tonight Show. Show some class dammit! [/snark]

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

That was an embarrassment for the whole country. A bad idea and a very bad precedent.

I watched it and thought the President did great - he really made a connection with me as a person. He was witty, charming, quick on his feet with answers.

I thought Leno asked the questions that everyone wanted to hear the answers to, and I thought President Obama did an excellent job of answering them. I especially liked his comment that being President was like being the American Idol, except that everyone in America was like Simon Crowell.

I didn't think it undignified or beneath the office at all - you got the sense that the President was a real person, but obviously one with big responsibilities. To me, it reinforced the feeling that there is hope with him at the helm that we can pull out of this and correct course with the economy, with health care and with education. I loved it.

Every boss I've ever had that I liked was an accessible human being.

I agree. And all of the leaders who were respected ,and followed, by their men ( in the military) or people (otherwise), led by example, led by a willingness to be one of the "grunts." They weren't "leaders" because of some glorified title or self-proclamation. They were followed because their followers believed and trusted in their sincerity and committment to the achieving the objective and looking out for the followers.

This whole debate is a trap set up by the GOP to try to get everyone thinking President Obama has disrespected the office. Please.

The opponents of him going on the Leno show sound like believers in "divine right," or a kind of "political aristocracy."

This whole debate is a trap set up by the GOP to try to get everyone thinking President Obama has disrespected the office. Please.

Please. I actually came up with my opinion all on my own, thank you very much. I don't know what the GOP is saying about it and don't care. But different people clearly have different perceptions.

Like the American Idol reference. Lisa liked it and thought it was appropriate. I cringed, because it sort of makes my point exactly. But we are all free to disagree.

I guess my age is showing and this stuff works on the younger crowd who helped elect him. Fine, as long as they work and help pay my Social Security!

Bush the Lesser did Deal or No Deal, for God's sake. He appeared on a freakin' game show, and not even one that requires two brain cells to rub together (how apropos...); its nothing more than a guessing game. Yeah, he did it because it was an episode where all the contestants were service members, but a game show is a lot more degrading than The Tonight Show.

And didn't Nixon do Laugh-In? Though I can't remember if he was actually in office yet, or just running.

Voting is like driving. If you want to go backwards, select R. If you want to go forward, select D.

Nixon was not in office, he was running. Don't remember Deal or No Deal. Seriously? I missed that.

I'm wondering if this isn't part of a larger plan.

Fox News fabricates a video and presents it as news and the Fox reporters don't get called on in press conferences.

Meet the Press does a gotcha interview with Obama and then a made for tv love fest with Dick Cheney...Obama appears on Leno, where good questions get asked and answered.

I enjoyed watching Mr. Obama on the Tonight Show. I think JFK would probably have done something similar. It was part of his charm. I also enjoyed Mrs. Kennedy's tour of the White House.

We just retired a president who was rarely seen doing anything other than fundraisers where he greeted his best friends, the haves and the have mores.

And remember the fancy regal uniforms Tricky Dick proposed for his Imperial White House guards?

Visit us at:

The Home

I'm with R. on this one. Of course I am:) I do take the presidency pretty seriously, as I do the positions of head of a bank, head of an investment company, head of the Treasury Dept., and the heads of other areas that can affect millions of people and a world economy.

Look, the president is trying to sell an economic recovery, and a big part of having an economic recovery is people believing there can and will be one. There's nothing wrong with the president going on a venue that will reach a wide audience to sell that idea and that confidence. Leno's audience is probably middle to middle-right, politically, and it's a good opportunity to reach them outside the filter of Fox News.

For those who say the president should stop campaigning, please quit buying into the pundit narrative of the week. The last president never stopped campaigning for himself, which was indeed a bad thing. Obama is campaigning for his agenda and for the tough actions that we'll all have to take if we are to hasten an ecomoic recovery. For that, the president should never stop campaigning. If he can get that message out and neutralize all the Limbaughs out there who want him to fail for political reasons, more power to him.

He's not degrading the presidency; he's doing his job.

Please. I actually came up with my opinion all on my own, thank you very much. I don't know what the GOP is saying about it and don't care. But different people clearly have different perceptions.

I didn't mean to imply that you were part of the trap, wittingly or unwittingly.

What I meant by that line was that I feel that these kinds of issues are distractions from the current issues most Americans are dealing with.

I can understand when people say that they believe that someone in his position shouldn't be on those kinds of TV shows.

But I don't believe it's that important of an issue.

But I don't believe it's that important of an issue.

I agree it's not that big of a deal. It has sure prompted some interesting and lively discussion, though!

Sean Braisted weighs in:

(link...)

I was ok with it.

He displayed a detailed understanding of some things in a plain talk way that unless you significantly understand somethings complexities you cannot present it in that 'however you understand things I can pick up on it and explain it to you that way' that helps the average person understand it.

I thought the bundling of mortgages explanation probably helped some folks understand it.

You don't get that much when he is talking to a bunch of experts on television. Meet the Press, etc.

Being on TS is a risk because if you are too glib then you can hurt yourself.

In fact, I thought you were kidding.

There is nothing wrong with connecting with the American public in settings like The Tonight Show. The dignity of the office isn't in any way threatened by this appearance. We aren't a monarchy or a dictatorship. Our President is the President of the people of the United States and is within his rights to use any avenue to communicate with the people. There are points too far, mind you, but Tonight Show is such an institution on television (it's almost 50 years old) that appearing there is perfectly fine.

Good morale could improve the economy. If the President looks unconcerned and upbeat, it builds confidence. Yes, it is probably fodder for the Limbaughs of the world, but nothing Obama will ever do will elicit a positive comment from the likes of him anyway, so why try?

I hope he follows through and has the Special Olympics participants over for a game at the White House Bowling Lanes.

There has been such a devolution of MSM "news" into infotainment, it becomes harder and harder to identify the differences between the networks' offerings. I mean, if you've watched morning "news" programs in the last 10-15 years, you'd have to agree that appearing on the Today show would have less dignity than appearing on the Tonight Show. I think Obama carried himself off well- and in fact we watched Leno for the first time in a long time last night to see how it would go. His answers seemed less trite to me than typical campaign and news conference answers, but that was probably as much the intimacy of the venue as anything else.

Finally, I'd say that Obama's appearance is in keeping with his, and his staff's, willingness to use the full array of media available to project their message to as many audiences as possible. I doubt most of the regular viewers of the Tonight Show are regular consumers of social media (though that is only an opinion), yet the Obama machine very effectively uses social media as well.

Would you find it undignified if he appeared on blogs or facebook or youtube or the like? Personally, I'd prefer to see him on Democracy Now-- Amy Goodman asks the truly difficult questions, and even prompted Bill Clinton to yell at her over the phone a few years ago. It was a precious moment.

Perhaps it's a generational thing, but I just don't have a problem with the President appearing on Leno.

For as long as there have been politicians, there have been politicians pretending to been common folks. Remember President Clinton and John Kerry hunting in camo -- or President Bush clearing brush? I found Bill Clinton jogging around Washington in short-shorts far less "dignified" than this Leno appearance, not that I really care about either. I found the President charming, down-to-earth and funny with persuasive metaphors that speak to folks with only a passing understanding in these complex financial issues.

It looked desperate. That was not the message to send to other world leaders.

I wish he hadn't. He has enough problems. It looked like pandering.

I'm fine with it. Leno reaches a middle of the road audience. Obama needs to use the bully pulpit to talk about the economy to just those people. What's not to like?

As long as there's no knife throwing like during the days of Johnny Carson (and let's see how many of you young whippersnappers get THAT reference), I see nothing undignified about it.

I'm sort of agreeing with metulj.

I don't have a problem with it at all.
That stuffed suit, quasi-royalty image of a President should have been done away with long ago.

Obama has broken a very foolish and delusional mold. The fact that POTUS are presented as some infallible being is part of what keeps politicians out of touch with common people.
Obama simply doesn't want to become out of touch. He is, in fact, the most in touch president since Carter and even more so than he.

Again, the mold Obama just broke will only lead us to bigger, better, more Liberal things in the future.
The definition of looking and acting "presidential" has forever changed for the better. No more corporate-asshat looking clowns in starched suits that appear behind a podium for a few mins then vanish into thin air.
If America wanted that kind of thing we would have elected Mitt Romney.

This is "change" and it's good. Real good.

And yes, Leno is a stooge. But he's not important enough to consider in overall scheme of things nor is his show. The Tonight Show exists for two reasons. The memory of Johnny Carson and the band.

It's not "just a job." And he's not just one of us. He's a head of state. I guess it's a sensibilities issue, a matter of good taste or bad taste - in other words, totally subjective. But I think snazzy Hollywood talk show appearances are cheesy when you ain't the President. The President showing up for shits and giggles with Jay Leno? Ew.

Some things are beneath the dignity of the office. What we're discussing here is whether this thing was. I'm sure some of you think it would be cute if he guested on Hollywood Squares.

If he does it again he better bring his teleprompter with him.

I didnt see the thing & was cool with it BUT that crack Obama made about Special Olympics was beyond dumb.

I think Leno is too goofy most of the time. I've only watched snippets of The Tonight Show since he took over. And I grew up staying up late to watch Carson. So, I didn't watch the other night. Oh, there was the fact that I was asleep too.

I understand why BHO did Leno, and I understand that it got the message to the people he wanted it to. That's cool. He's doing one of the news shows on Sunday, I think I heard that. And, he's having a news conference next week. So, I'm cool with the choices so far.

And, I was personally tickled about the NCAA bracket. Basketball is something that BHO clearly loves, and anyone who loves college basketball has a bit of fun with the brackets. I'm doing particularly well so far this year, so I can say that with a smile. That and a friend told me that so far, my picks are stronger than BHO's.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Fact is, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs, tens of millions have lost some of their retirement benefits, tens of millions are worried about the stability of their banks, and families of our soldiers in the Iraqi and Afghani War-zones are worried about whether their children, fathers, mothers, sisters, or brothers are going to make it home before tragedy strikes. These are just a few of the things facing every American every day. And while President Obama did not create this parade of horribles, we are looking at him to be the solution. If my parent or my child had lost their job due to corporate layoffs while executives from the same corporation were pocketing hundreds of thousands or millions in bonuses . . . well, I'm sorry folks, but the last thing I want to see is my President chatting with Jay Leno on a talk show about his athletic prowess or lack thereof. These are serious times and we need serious people to deal with them, not a President trying to make sure his poll numbers stay up by "reaching out" to the average guy.

well, I'm sorry folks, but the last thing I want to see is my President chatting with Jay Leno on a talk show about his athletic prowess or lack thereof. These are serious times and we need serious people to deal with them, not a President trying to make sure his poll numbers stay up by "reaching out" to the average guy.

You know, for a Democrat, you seem to sound real Republican in your criticisms of President Obama.