California, Here I Come

The President has taken his "better bargain for the middle class" tour to Los Angeles on Wednesday, participating with Zillow.com in a nationwide "Ask Obama Housing" social media event. This comes on the heals of an appearance (again!) on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday night. He then made an appearance at Camp Pendleton to speak with the troops, thanking them for their service and the families for their sacrifice.

A couple of points.

Enough with the president appearing on late night TV. He is not an entertainer; he is allegedly the leader of our country. Ronald Reagan, a Hollywood actor for most of his adult life, didn't look for this much adulation when he was governor of California or President.

Richard Nixon, before he was sworn in as President, made the mistake of appearing on Laugh-In, a comedy-satire show in the late 60s and early 70s. Chevy Chase, in his one year on Saturday Night Live, made fun of Gerald Ford countless times.

Every night, the late show hosts fund something in the news to roast our politicians about. But to go on the show and face that ridicule, well, it's great TV but terrible leadership.

Then, the Zillow twitter-talk was closed to the press. Why? Was the administration afraid that a question might come up that could embarrass the President? He has the press in his pocket, so there wouldn't be any opportunity to report a blunder on his part. And by closing the press out, the narrative would be much easier to control.

And visiting the troops? He has done more to hurt morale in our military than any other president in 237 years. Even during the darkest days of Vietnam the morale in our military wasn't this bad. Perhaps, it was felt to be a good photo op for the President.

So California the last couple of days, enjoyed a heady visit from the President to destroy LAs traffic and to provide extra security at state and local costs for the honor. It's not like California is basking in the glow of surplus budget with money to burn.

And ultimately, this trip was taken for nothing more than a visit with Jay Leno. Everything else, for this man, is window dressing. How many more trips to California will he take? As long as the Hollywood crowd loves him, plenty I imagine. After all, the casting director needs more than one audition to make a choice, right?

Maybe he will replace Jimmy Fallon in three years. We'll see.