Obama: Stay in your office

Over at TV Squad, some thoughts about Obama’s Tonight Show appearance:

As I was watching President Obama chat with Jay Leno last night, one thought kept crossing my mind: how unusual it was to see a current president sitting in the same chair as David Spade. It’s just odd and somewhat disconcerting to see the man who’s the supposed leader of the free world engaging in lighthearted banter with Jay, and responding to the audience when it cheered or booed something. During the third segment, I almost expected to see the flat screen TV behind Jay pop up so they could show a clip from Obama’s latest project.

And that’s why the appearance was so historic. It doesn’t matter how many times a president goes on a talk show before or after he’s in office; while in office, pretty much all interviews go to him. It doesn’t matter what show it is; it could be a Sunday morning issues show like Meet The Press or a twinkie-fest like Larry King Live. But in just about every case, the interviewer goes to wherever the president is and sits down with him for a quiet, reverent interview.

via Here’s why Obama on The Tonight Show was so historic – VIDEO – TV Squad.

What’s frustrating about this is that it clearly betrays a lack of thoughtfulness on Obama’s part about the impact that various genres, settings and mediums can have on people’s perceptions. If he wanted to trivialize the issues, great job! Otherwise, I’m afraid he’s not going to accomplish much talking about the economy in between dog stories and stupid pet tricks.