by Mark Silva
Some of the initial accounts of President Barack Obama's plans for appearing on The Tonight Show suggested that he was the first sitting president to do so.
But the Obama White House helped correct the record today with an acknowledgement of John Fitzgerald Kennedy's appearance on TV with Jack Paar.
Second sitting president to sit for the late-night audience.
. "Change again you can believe in,'' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs joked today when asked about the clarification.
Is the president practicing any "zingers'' for his appearance Thursday night?
"Lord knows, he'll get the opportunity, I'm sure,'' Gibbs said.
"No. But again I don't think -- we don't look at it as the process of demonstrating the president's sense of humor. We look at it as a way of discussing the economic situation that we find ourselves in.
"Obviously, California is one of the -- I think it's four states in the country that is experiencing double-digit unemployment,'' he said. "They face budget challenges, and I think all of those topics will be part of that discussion.''
So this is all about Burbank?
Comments
I'm happy to see that President Obama is staying in touch with the people like this.
Bush spent two of his first three months in office on vacation celebrating the election he stole.
Posted by: baba booey | March 17, 2009 4:45 PM
Mark, JFK appeared on Jack Paar as a presidential candidate (Nixon did as well). There are many references to this on the 'Net, but as far as I could tell, not one reference to Kennedy coming back on AS President. RFK, however, did give Paar the first interview after the assassination.
http://tinyurl.com/d9n4be
Posted by: Robert George | March 17, 2009 6:22 PM
I still think this is a mistake...just a gut reaction...
Posted by: lochnessmonster | March 17, 2009 7:38 PM
Still want to know where the telepropter will be hidden.
Posted by: Terry | March 17, 2009 9:36 PM
All of the questions and answers for Obama tonight will be written by Leno's staff, so that Obama will know what's coming and -- as always -- be able to read his answers off the TelePrompter. He's so dependent upon the T.P. that when it screwed up yesterday, Obama read the Irish prime minister's lines and didn't realize it for two minutes. It's apparent that his handlers do not trust Obama to speak even on the most mundane
circumstances.
Posted by: Hartford | March 18, 2009 12:54 PM
Nothing is more ridiculous than Republican’s complaining about Obama appearing on the Tonight Show. I can understand why – they fear Obama will reach the average person and that is the last thing Republican’s want. Republican’s want democracy to stay in the Washington bubble where they think they have more control and continue to pass laws that favor the rich who in turn feed the Republican campaign machine with donations. For Obama to think outside of the box speaks well of a man who was elected by the people (not wall street, lobbyists and the rich that Republican’s represent). What are the Republican’s afraid of? They are so out of touch that maybe instead of spending their time complaining, whining and trying to change the tax laws to favor the wealthiest Americans, maybe they should spend less time complaining and actually learning how to communicate to hard working Americans who are still the vast majority.
Sorry, Republican’s, most of us work 12 hour days, 6 days a week (not 4) and if lucky we may get a week vacation (not months) at wages that is probably less than what you pay your servants or waste our tax dollars on for your pet peeve projects. After a 12 hour day, the last thing we want to do is listen to O’Reily spin on politics, Hannity whining like a soar loser or even listen to you on CNN making noise. We come home, want to turn on something that isn’t so depressing to watch, yet is both entertaining and informative (like Tonight Show) that doesn’t have an agenda to promote their political views. Like I said, it tells hard working Americans’ how out of touch Republicans are about what makes us tick and what it takes to survive in a country destroyed by Bush politics
Posted by: Jack | March 20, 2009 12:54 PM
FYI, Kennedy appeared on Jack Paar on June 16th, 1960 -- AND Nixon appeared on August 25th prior to the election. The Obama admin. is wrong. Obama's staff needs to be better at facts, he is the first. Both Kennedy and Nixon appeared on Jack Paar PRIOR to the 1960 election. Another WRONG fact!!! Hope their focus on the economy is better.
Posted by: mj | March 20, 2009 3:49 PM