Andy Hefty

Can too much media exposure backfire on the President?  What about not enough?  Shortly before George W. Bush gave his first nationally televised address (hint:  it was a month before 9/11), I commented to a friend that he bears a striking resemblance in “media presence” to Richard Nixon.

And now, the Barack Obama reality TV special!

Instead of getting before the American people with his policies and agenda, he hunkered down and let others speak for him – or against him in some cases.

Enter Barack Obama.  This man seems to love getting on TV as much as Jesse Jackson.  I have long said that being between Jackson and a rolling camera was almost as dangerous as getting between a pregnant woman and a bathroom door.  I’m beginning to believe that Obama will trump Jackson in that infamy before his term expires.

Somewhere there is a balance between the two extremes.

For now, everywhere you turn, Obama is on TV.  Cartoonist Henry Payne drew a distinct possibility for the future:  a sitting president being the guest host for Saturday Night Live.  Even my good friend, Cartoonist Ed Gamble, pointed that out in his most recent harpoon (err, cartoon), depicting a traveling salesman Obama showing up at the door of Mr. & Mrs. America who are already overwhelmed with ObamaTV.

Is this some sort of joke?  Are we to endure another 40 months of endless teleprompter reading on every channel except Fox News?

Speaking of Fox News, why won’t the president make an appearance on the highest-rated cable television news channel in the world?  Is he afraid of trick questions?  Does he fear that he will not have Katie Couric tossing softball questions to him?

At the risk of repeating every other conservative pundit, professional or otherwise, if Obama can’t stand the heat of Fox News, how can he stand up to terrorists, dictators, and adversarial Congressmen?

But in all seriousness, if the President doesn’t temper his media appearances, he’s going to find that nobody wants to hear him – not even BO, the “first dog.”

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