O, Jay: Obama to Appear on Tonight Show

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | March 16, 2009 | +

When you’ve got a book to plug or a movie to shill, you go on the Tonight Show. Also, it appears, if you’ve got legislation to move, and economic plan to sell, and an electorate that needs a pep talk. Thus Barack Obama will take the unusual step of going on with Jay Leno as a sitting President Thursday night. Considering the communications challenges the Administration faces, it makes sense that they would expand the venues for getting their message out, and Leno, while he doesn’t draw the audience a prime-time speech would, does still represent a gateway to the broad American middle any President wants to reach. It’ll be an interesting challenge in terms of setting the tone—for both the host and the guest.

Related Topics: politics, Uncategorized

@TIMECulture

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Policy debates aside… this administration understands the importance of communication. (It’s particularly striking given how lousy the Bush administration was at communicating.)

This week we have Bernacke on “60 Minutes” and Obama on Leno. It’s smart to reach outside the standard political press coverage to promote your agenda.
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What is the precedence for a sitting President on a late night show like the Tonight Show?
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I think it’s great that Obama is a creative communicator. Glad that he’s going to miss that stupid Gridiron press dinner. Smart move,that.
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