by Mark Silva
David Axelrod, the political adviser who helped President Barack Obama get where he is today, will be speaking out of field tomorrow night. And people will be laughing.
It's OK. Obama has done it, too.
Axelrod, appearing on stage in Washington as the star guest of National Public Radio's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!, will attempt to answer questions about a job which he knows nothing about. That's the shtick for the "Not My Job'' segment of the popular quiz show, which will be taped Thursday night and air this weekend.
NPR says it has a full house for the show at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium.
Obama himself played this role in 2005, as a junior senator from Illinois. He was asked questions that superstitious baseball player Wade Boggs might field - and got all three questions right.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has played the game, asked about the habits of rock stars, U.S. Att'y Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago was quizzed about various types of scooters (get it?); and Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy fielded questions about child-rearing expert Dr. Spock (get that one?)
"Many people compare Mr. Axelrod to Karl Rove, but we think that Rove was smarter, as evidenced by the fact that Rove never agreed to come on our show," says Peter Sagal, host of Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me! "We've got lots of questions for Axelrod, but all of them involve finding out how and where the president is sneaking his cigarettes."
(Photo of David Axelrod approaching the White House by Charles Dharapak / AP)
Comments
This shows how open and self-deprecating the Obama admin is. Very refreshing...
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | May 13, 2009 12:59 PM
Axelrod is lower than pondscum and you can think him for your high ComEd electric bills. He's their lobbyist.
Posted by: Jeff | May 13, 2009 2:16 PM
David Axelrod is a breath of fresh air after eight years of that low life scum bag Karl Rove.
Posted by: Teresa Kathy | May 13, 2009 2:30 PM
Yeah open and self-depreciating adminisration indeed !!!!
Change the name to "wait wait does obama walk on water better than everyone thought?"
It'll be an obama lovefest !!!
It's NPR after all
Posted by: Al in Woodridge | May 13, 2009 3:00 PM
Wow, what a surprise, Carl Rove not wanting to come on an intellectual show. I bet if it was a FOX show he'd be there.
Posted by: Liberal and Proud | May 13, 2009 3:02 PM
Great show to do housework by...makes me laugh while I am hunting dust bunnies.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | May 13, 2009 3:21 PM
@Teresa Kathy
Shut your lights off when you leave a room and stop turning your air on when its 60 degrees out.
Man, some people will whine about anything.
Its a ton of fun to see people on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. The head of the CIA was on one week and it was a riot.
Posted by: joe | May 13, 2009 3:34 PM
Axelrod is lower than pondscum and you can think him for your high ComEd electric bills. He's their lobbyist.
Posted by: Jeff | May 13, 2009 2:16 PM
************
Yes, Warmonger Neonut Ari Fleischer and Spokesmodel Dana Perino were so much better.....not!
Posted by: BigCheese | May 13, 2009 3:46 PM
The only place the treasonous Rove rears his ugly head is on Fox Lies or Sean Hannity. I would like to see Turd Blossom on Are You Smarter then a Fifth Grader, but even a show like that is over his head.
Posted by: Doug R. | May 13, 2009 3:58 PM
Axelrod will attempt to answer questions about a job which he knows nothing about.
I wonder if that will be the chief of staff in a post-partisan White House?
Good to see my tax dollars at NPR going to work.
Posted by: Terry | May 13, 2009 10:13 PM
Axelrod will attempt to answer questions about a job which he knows nothing about.
Posted by: Terry | May 13, 2009 10:13 PM
*****************
Yeah, it's kind of like the way you are everyday. Slobbering and clueless.
Posted by: you | May 13, 2009 11:40 PM
Axelrod is WAY smarter than Karlito.
Posted by: ornery | May 14, 2009 1:31 AM
Now I don't know this for sure, and yes, 2005 was a while back...but I think that then-Senator Obama went 2 for 3 on his appearance on Wait Wait back in 2005, not a perfect 3/3.
Of course, that's still nothing to scoff at.
Posted by: Adam Peck | May 14, 2009 2:05 PM
I live by a pond and can tell you that, as it relates to the pond, pondscum is at the very top and everything else is beneath it. It seems that Jeff is following the recent right wing "tradition" of getting things bass ackwards.
Posted by: Ducks | May 14, 2009 2:49 PM
I love David Axelrod. There's nothing pompous or arrogant about him but he gets the job done. He always has the Obama's back and I'm glad that the President has a good friend he can count on through the stresses of the job. Should be a great show!
Posted by: karela | May 14, 2009 6:10 PM
Will O repeat Clinton record?
to see
google
clarence swinney + praise clinton
cswinney2@triad.rr.com
Posted by: CLARENCE SWINNEY | May 15, 2009 11:47 AM