Overexposure or clever promotion?
Updated on 20 March 2009
Critics are divided over Barack Obama's television appearances as they question whether his public profile distracts him from serious matters of policy, writes Felicity Spector.
"This has been one of the best days of my life," Jay Leno declared after hosting the first sitting President ever to appear on a late night talk show.
Perhaps Barack Obama's appearance on the Tonight show wasn't such a gamble after all, given the waves of ecstatic applause that greeted his string of one-liners.
How cool is it to travel on Air Force One? Pretty cool as it turns out, although the Obama girls are more interested in the on-board candy.
There was a lot of close questioning about the First family's new dog: "If you want a friend in Washington," said the President deadpanned, "get a dog."
Tim Geithner might well take heed. As Obama held forth on the merits of his economic rescue plan, Leno joked that he'd dumped the problem on his Treasury Secretary's shoulders: "I love how you say it's his problem."
Obama took a few moments to get back on that one, before admitting: "All of this is my responsibility. I'm trying to break a pattern in Washington where everybody's always looking for someone to blame."
It didn't go entirely according to plan. There was a rather unfortunate quip about the Special Olympics as the pair discussed Obama's hopeless performance in the bowling alley.
How cool is it to travel on Air Force One? Pretty cool as it turns out, although the Obama girls are more interested in the on-board candy.
"I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down," said Leno.
"No, no," replied the President. "I have been practicing... I bowled a 129."
"That's very good, Mr President," said Leno.
But then Obama was heard saying, "It's like - it was like the Special Olympics, or something."
Oops, not cool. Not cool at all.
Within moments the White House press team had been deployed, with spokesman Bill Burton frantically telling reporters on board Air Force One: "The president made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics."
Critics seem more bothered that the appearance diminishes the office of the President and more crucially distracts him from concentrating on the economy; two days ago Obama also popped up on ESPN helping to pick an NCAA championship basketball team.
Politico's worried about overexposure, dubbing him 'The Everywhere President'. On top of the two TV appearances, it points out you could catch Obama explaining his family's mealtime preferences in Parents magazine. Or Michelle Obama describing their daily gym workouts in People. From US Weekly to the cover of Vogue it's still a non stop Obama fest.
Cheering crowds in California? Or the usual political sniping back in DC? It's not hard to see why Obama prefers it out on the road.
The former White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers counsels caution. She told Politico that when a president is in the public eye too often "at some point, people stop listening", although she adds "at the moment he's still effective. It's still working."
Obama promised to go out of Washington at least once a week to meet and talk to ordinary people. This week's two-day swing through Southern California included two town-hall style meetings where he answered a whole range of questions from the public.
Even California's own celebrity politician, Arnie Schwarzengger, was impressed, calling the LA trip "historic" before gushing: "He's so smart. He's so clear in his thinking and he's so well-informed."
Cheering crowds in California? Or the usual political sniping back in DC? It's not hard to see why Obama prefers it out on the road.
It might be a kind of permanant election campaign, but if that means a President who keeps trying to think of new ways to reach out to the American people, even if he does risk overexposure, most pundits seem to agree that can't be a bad thing.
As long as there are no more Special Olympics-style gaffes, that is.
