White House Cheat Sheet: Obama and Leno [View All]

[steven johnson]

Chris Cillizza in his piece in the Washington Post discusses Obama's strategy for going on Leno before going to Letterman. After all, Letterman has made fun of Bush more and it is a shorter plane flight.

The consensus is that it is a good move but not without risks. The betting money is that Leno will joke about Obama in his monologue and ask at least one tough question. But his audience is part of the electorate that is still up for grabs in 2010 and 2012. So Obama is rolling the dice.

So, is Obama's decision to go on Leno a stroke of genius or a swing and a miss? ...
The consensus? It's a savvy move.

The reasons given ran the gamut but generally coalesced into a few broad categories: personality, predictability and popularity.

• Personality: A number of operatives said that this would be a huge risk for most politicians but much less of one for someone as naturally gifted a communicator as Obama. "Obama's likeability is one of his main assets, and it is definitely to his advantage to put it on display," said Geoff Garin, a veteran Democratic pollster. "Bush couldn't have made it work, but Obama can." ...

• Predictability: While Obama won't have the luxury of reading his speech off of a teleprompter, he also won't be facing a hostile questioner in Leno. ...

• Popularity: Leno's show does monster ratings but it's not just the size of his audience but who the audience is that makes a difference. "Leno gets a fair number of Republicans and Republicans who lean Independent," said Rick Reed, a GOP ad man. One Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly, broadened that point. "This is a predominantly white, working class audience of folks who voted for Bush once if not twice, realized they shouldn't have and broke for Obama," the source explained. Paul Begala, as always, put it best. "There are millions of Americans who watch Jay Leno but don't watch David Gregory," the veteran Democrat explained. "The President is smart to reach out to them."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/03/white_house_cheat_sheet_5.html?wprss=thefix