With today’s impromptu press conference, it would seem that President Obama has become something of a fixture on daytime television.
The day brings bad news (and there’s been a lot of it lately); the President has to get before the cameras. He talks up the economy, talks investors down off the ledge. Sometimes, just for the fun of it, he trash-talks congressional Republicans.
Meanwhile, over on another channel, life goes on pretty much undisrupted for The Price Is Right, a fixture of American daytime broadcasting for the past half-century. Its host: Drew Carey.
If it’s escapism you like, go with the game show. People are having the time of their life. You won’t find that at the White House pressers, where “The Best of Times” is a song from a Broadway musical, not a political m.o.
And that begs this question: if it’s good times the nation seeks, maybe we should replace the sliver-tongued orator with the bow-tied game-show host.
Consider how they stack up:
CAREY: Giving away prizes for free (ok, you gotta pay taxes)
OBAMA: Giving away healthcare, definitely not for free
CAREY: “Come on down” – and the audience gleefully rushes to the stage
OBAMA: “Four more years” – spending $1 billion to coax a reluctant electorate
CAREY: “Over-under” game to win cash and prizes
OBAMA: “Over-under” game with bad consequences (federal overspending, underperforming economy)
CAREY: “Dice game” – roll of a die to win a car
OBAMA: “Dice game” – failed Kenyesian roll of the dice
CAREY: “Pass the buck” game – placing dollars on appropriate markers
OBAMA: ‘Nuf said
CAREY: Flanked by gorgeous showcase models
OBAMA: Flanked by David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs
CAREY: Wants to save Cleveland
OBAMA: Needs Cleveland to save his presidency
CAREY: 4th year as host of a show that’s been on the air for 55 years, with no end in sight
OBAMA: 3rd year as host of a show that might be pulled off the air in January 2013.
Come to think of it, maybe this is way our President – when he’s not doing the matinee pressers—can be found on The View, not Drew Carey’s show.
