It was great TV.
As he sat on the couch with three women on one side and two on the other, he was completely at ease.
He aced a pop culture quiz, correctly answering questions about Kim Kardashian, Modern Family, Dancing With The Stars and the Avengers but failing to “name the controversial sex book on women’s bedside tables”. “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask Michelle” he said with a chuckle.
They tackled serious topics too but Obama’s guard was never up, even when challenged over his support of Gay Marriage.
He talked about how his wife teases him about his big ears and nose. “She is relentless” he said, noting how important her teasing is when “you have a bunch of people around you in the White House laughing at your jokes”. He referred to himself as “a dumb husband screwing up” when they showed some footage of him walking off Airforce 1 without Michelle and having to go back inside, having left her on the plane.
As I watched, I tried to imagine Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott in the same situation during an election year. Or ever. And I couldn’t. But why not? They are both capable of laughing and being self-deprecating and telling amusing anecdotes about their lives. But put them in front of the media and they both become stiff, awkward and painfully stilted. Where is the warmth? The spontenaity? At what point do you just have to say “stuff it, this is who I am?” Now. Because if either of them want to reverse their high disapproval ratings, they need to try something new.
There seems to be a collective paralysis when it comes to politicians having a laugh and being themselves. The unrelenting pressure to be on message at all times has turned the political landscape into an arid dessert devoid of personality or humanity. It’s a sea of robot soundbites and tightly scripted mission statements. No wonder nobody is listening.
Obama talks Pop Culture.
Obama talks Gay Marriage.
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while you think Obama is 'cool', don't forget he has been ordering drone attacks on civillians. war criminal.
I don't think Julia Gillard can relax in this same way. She is a woman in politics and gets treated like shit by the media, they always make fun of her hair, her partner and her jackets; what do they have to do with running a country?!! Why should she go on a program and give the media more fuel for the fire?
I wish she could, I wish she could go out into the media and be herself like Obama has here (in an obvious PR stunt), but the reality is that media has constructed a character and the Julia Gillard, Prime Minister character is full of ridicule and laughter; 'shut up, go back to the kitchen and stop wearing those jackets and playing dress up'.
:(
Abbott cops that rubbish just as much, i can't see any difference myself.
I've read no media article dissing either of them for their looks, partners or dress sense, I have read it in comments by the general public however, but not the media.
I'm willing to retract that if you can provide links to where the actual media has done this, re a newspaper or magazine article.
They are simply reacting to what she puts out. She is uninspiring. Her speeches are dull, too scripted, she has no warmth or passion when she speaks. I wonder if she truly believes in anything.
Comments about her outfits, hair, partner shouldn't matter, but would die off if she had the ability to actually connect with voters and show her personality.
And this is not a female thing, as people make it out to be. Natasha Stott Despoya was fawned over, people love Quentin Brice for her poise and charm, Anna Bligh had periods of very positive press. It isn't sexism - hair comments aside - she just fails to connect.