Last night President Barack Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
What we witnessed was vintage Obama. Eloquent, confident and in control.
He told us went wrong in the American economy, what he and others are doing to fix it and reassured us that brighter days are ahead and he did it all with a smile on his face and in language we can comprehend.
His interviewer, Jay Leno, is no Mike Wallace but The Tonight Show host covered all the bases. From AIG, to clean energy, to the Obama’s search for a family dog. Leno got the mix of questions just right and he did it smoothly, respectfully and with the perfect amount of humor. We could ask for nothing more from the big hearted comedian. He gets top marks all the way around!
It wasn’t a flawless appearance. Obama did make an off the collar remark comparing his recent bowling game to ’the Special Olympics or something’. It was a poor comparison. And others, I’m sure, will make an issue out of it and I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama clarifies or apologizes for the unfortunate remark later today.
All in all it was a good night for television.
In the future sitting presidents probably wouldn’t make it a habit of appearing on The Tonight Show but I do think President Obama has started a trend and he wouldn’t be the last sitting president to appear on the late-night talk show circuit.
*** BTW I love the 99 cent segment. Jay, we all know that most of the products sold at these stores are crap and not worth more than the few pennies it takes to produce them but I dare you to find another store other than a dollar store or 99 cent store where you can buy all your junk food, cleaning supplies, a cutesy ornament or plaque for your wife and a cool toy for your niece or nephew for a combined total of less than $20 ? I DARE YOU JAY! I DARE YOU! lol***
Obama laughing in the face of adversity?
Obama is a funny guy. That’s one of the reasons so many of us like him.
On the campaign trail we saw brief glimpses of his humorous side but he never really loosend up always wary of the fact that one overblown joke could cause him the presidency Obama kept his self-deprecating, dry sense of humor in check.
But over the past few months as Obama has become increasingly comfortable with the presidency and his role as president and unfortunately as the situation has become more and more dire he’s started to lighten up and it’s not uncommon for him to crack a joke during a national press conference or address and admitedly most of the time his jokes or observations are witty and funny.
But on Thursday during his appearance of “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno a characteristically self-deprecating joke about his bowling skills left a lot of families and people hurt. Then during an interview with “60 Minutes”, which aired yesterday, Obama joked about some aspects of the American economy likening his humor to ‘gallows humor’.
After he said, ” The only thing less popular than putting money into banks is putting money into the auto industry,” noting that, ” There’s got to be a little gallows humor to get you through the day.” Obama’s first statement was dead on but it’s no laughing matter. Detroit one of the US’s largest cities and the capital of the world’s auto industry is on the brink of collapse and Obama is joking about it?
Call me bias if you want (I lived in Detroit for over two years and I have a special fondness for Ferndale and Royal Oak MI) but I don’t get the joke.
Obama is the person charged with fixing all our problems and if he doesn’t make substantial headway in achieving many of them he’s going to be a one term president. And with everything he’s dealing with he’s probably suffering from a ‘contact high’ brought on from being so close to all these disasters but frankly with the most powerful country currently on its knees and our collective suffering becoming a bit too overwhelming for even the strongest and the brightest among us I’m in no mood to laugh.
I admit I’ve never been one to laugh in the face of adversity, (I’d probably jump kick it..lol) so forgive me if I can’t laugh it off. And maybe if I lighten up I’d be able to see the humor in all of this like President Obama.
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