The Tonight Show With Barack Obama

I was discussing Obama’s appearance on Leno with Oliver earlier today, who brought up a good point:

going on Leno is a political gamble for Obama because he needs to come off as substantive but not boring, funny, but not making fun of people who have suffered real economic hardship in recent times. My counterpoint: the Obama people will have orchestrated the interview so extensively that Obama will come off exactly as they want him to come off to the American people. Now, I personally belong to the crowd that’s waiting for Conan to take over for Leno, but this evening I tuned into the Tonight Show, so here are some of my impressions on Obama’s appearance:

Obama began by talking about the growing sense of entitlement that is present in the country. He said that we need to return to a sense of responsibility, to an understanding that actions are going to impact others and that people must be responsible for their actions. In his words, we need to get back to the values that built America. Pretty classical, conservative sentiments, if you ask me.

Leno questioned him about the recent Congressional action that would tax away most of the bonuses made by AIG executives, raising concerns that this would set a precedent for the government simply taxing anyone they did not like. Obama said he would answer this question after the commercial break, but, he did not.

In terms of advocating re-regulation, I think Obama greatly sacrificed substance in an effort to make his point more accessible to the common viewer. He said that we need to regulate the financial industry in order to prevent companies from issuing variable rate loans to under-qualified borrowers (sub-prime loans, in essence). Unfortunately, this is not what caused the current financial crisis. Unreliable assets are unreliable assets, and should be treated as such. Sub-prime mortgages, on the other hand, were made to look like AAA rated securities and propagated through the financial sector. That’s the issue. It’s about protecting property rights: falsely rating a sub-prime mortgage as AAA is the same thing as selling a car without an engine inside of it. This is what needs to be regulated, not the stupidity of gullible homeowners.

Overall, I think Obama was successful in producing an entertaining interview while addressing the policy questions on everyone’s mind. I even found myself laughing at some of his ostensibly spontaneous jokes, even though it was obvious that they were prepared beforehand with Leno. We’ll have to wait and see until tomorrow as to whether or not his Special Olympics joke (in reference to his own bowling skills) struck any particular nerves.