Monday, March 16, 2009

Not Ready For Prime Time

In an effort to bolster public support for his budget proposal and deficit reduction programs, President Barack Obama will make an appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show on Thursday evening. The president will stop by Leno’s studio during his trip to Los Angeles later this week.

If I was David Letterman, I’d feel a bit slighted. After all, Letterman made no attempt to conceal his contempt for the Republican Party or John McCain this past election cycle.

But beyond the obvious pandering, I don’t really get why the President of the United States would feel the need to appear on a comedy show to discuss matters of economic and national policy. It’s not as though the two are former school chums, and Obama is making good on a long-forgotten fraternity bet. This is the President; and there are other media forums available if he wishes to connect to the American public.

Perhaps this is just a sign of the times – a time where more and more Americans appear to be getting their news from Comedy Central than traditional “mainstream” media sources. Jon Stewart is a more trusted news source than Brian Williams; I don’t know if that is more a compliment to Stewart or an indictment of the pitiful state of network news.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is just stupid. Is he going to sit there on a comedy show and talk about his budget? Could he be even less presidential?

Anonymous said...

"Could he be even less presidential?"

Let me know when he IS presidential.

Anonymous said...

Golwater's Ghost wrote:
Jon Stewart is a more trusted news source than Brian Williams; I don’t know if that is more a compliment to Stewart or an indictment of the pitiful state of network news.


I would content that it is more of an indictment of the ignorance of the average American.

Anonymous said...

Ooops.

Contend.