The day before his appearance on the “Late Show with David Letterman”, Pres. Obama hardly revealed anything about his personal life.  However, with David Letterman he were real but for some information about his charter schooling and social life as well as a recent date night with his wife.  He also talked about some politics as well.

He let slip a few personal details about his daughters, an off-limits topic elsewhere. He disclosed the name of a movie he saw recently with his wife. And he managed to talk a little about healthcare and Afghanistan too.  The information wasn’t exactly breaking news, but the president has been busy hammering home an old message about the overhaul of the healthcare system.

And, in fact, Letterman let him talk about his favorite topic for a good stretch of the show. Letterman was content to listen as Obama talked about the plight of the uninsured and about his ideas for making things better.

In a more personal moment, Obama talked about how tough the homework load is at Sidwell Friends School, the Quaker school his daughters, Sasha and Malia, attend in Washington.

“We decided there weren’t going to be any fancy camps during the summer,” Obama said. “They basically just goofed off during the summer . . . which I couldn’t do.”

“Others have,” Letterman said, a possible reference to the previous administration, drawing only a laugh from the president.

Obama also offered some insight into date nights with the first lady when shown a picture of the two of them wearing 3D glasses. They were watching the movie “Up” at the time, he said.  He also divulged that the Obama girls have slumber parties at the White House and go to sleepovers at their friends’ houses, which requires that parents get “frisked” by the Secret Service.

For those who would like to watch movies like the president . . . You can get old sci-fi movies online quickly and easily.  You can search thousands of full-length DVD quality movies, TV shows, music videos and much more.  One website offers unlimited 24/7 movie downloads! No time limits, no bandwidth limits, no content limits!  They provide software to easily burn your Videos to DVD, no expensive burner required!

In a serious moment, the president showed a hint of agreement with some points in a new report from the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who believes that the mission in Afghanistan could fail without more troops and a different strategy for tamping down the insurgency, according to a document that was revealed in the Washington Post.

Over the last seven years, Obama said, “our strategy drifted. . . . We didn’t have a clear sense of what it was we were trying to accomplish.”

Obama also weighed in with a brief, but sharp, point about race, another subject he typically avoids.

Is all the vitriol about his domestic agenda really about race? Letterman asked the first black president.

“It’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election,” Obama pointed out. “That tells you a lot, I think, about where the country is at.”

President Barack Obama, who has faced a lot of criticism from some quarters which former President Jimmy Carter views as racially motivated, had an answer for that in his talk with the Late Show’s David Letterman today.

Asked by Letterman in the taping of tonight’s show today if his opponents are motivated by racial hatred, Obama said:

“It’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election… This is true.”

“How long have you been a black man?” Letterman replied.

“The American people, I think, gave me this extraordinary honor and that tells you, I think, a lot about where the country’s at,” Obama said. “I actually think that what’s happened is that whenever a president tries to bring about significant changes, particularly during times of economic unease, then there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up.

“And it happened – FDR was called a socialist and a communist; JFK, there were all kinds of names hurled at him; Ronald Reagan, when he came into office, he was moving in a different direction and people were sure that he was bringing the country down.”

Letterman, who was stood up by Obama’s rival, Sen. John McCain, during the presidential campaign, and let him know about it on air, made a few jokes about the president’s arrival, the first sitting president to appear on the Late Show – though this was Obama’s own personal sixth stop on Letterman’s set.

The president let slip a few personal details about his daughters, an off-limits topic elsewhere. He disclosed the name of a movie he saw recently with his wife. And he confessed that yes, he is still crazy about nurses.

The Late Show band played Hail to the Chief with timpani drums. The president strode out in a navy suit, white shirt, blue tie.

“I like the cup,” Obama said, sitting down… “The main reason I’m here… I want to see that heart shaped potato.”

At which prompt Letterman walked over to a woman from Missouri who had been on the show two years before with the spud. Letterman collected it and handed it over to Obama. The president put the potato in his pocket.

“Family is doing wonderfully,” Obama said. “Poor Sash, she was in second grade, and in this new school, she had homework, we decided there wasn’t going to be any fancy camps during the summer. They basically just goofed off during the summer…

Lettermen asked about all the stress of having men with guns around the place. “They actually go over to other kids houses,” Obama said. “The parents get frisked.”

They shared some photographs, including one of the president running his Portuguese water dog, Bo, with a football.

And they talked about that “vitriol” in the public debate these days which Obama mentioned in his Sunday news show talks over the weekend. ” Whenever a president tries to bring about significant change, .there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up.” Obama said. “FDR was called a socialist and a communist; Ronald Reagan, whenhe came into office — people were sure that he was bringing the country down.

“What has been missing from the conversation is that the overwhelming majority of people, Republicans and Democrats, they just want to see some common sense,” the president said. “I think they are turned off by the shouting and the yelling.”

The crowd applauded.

Obama started in on health care.

“If I’m not feeling well, I go to the CBS nurse,” Letterman said.

” Everybody should have a CBS nurse,” Obama said. “I’m sure the nurse is a wonderful person. What we have right now is at least 30 million who don’t have any insurance… If we are on the same path that we are right now…5-10 years … far more Americans are not going to have health insurance .”

“Your job is more difficult than my job,” Letterman suggested. “That’s what I’ve learned here tonight.”

“Whenever you invoke Great Britain or Canada …people shudder,” Letterman said. “I’m not a socialist, but it doesn’t sound that bad to me. ”

“It doesn’t sound bad to Canadians, they are perfectly happy with their system,” Obama said. “But each country is different… Every other advanced nation provides coverage for all their folks. We can find a uniquely American way of accomplishing this.”

Letterman asked about Afghanistan.

“Our troops are performing at an extraordinary level in both Iraq and Afghanistan,” Obama said. “Look Iraq will not be perfect, but thanks to the sacrifice of those who fought, the Iraqis will have a chance to create the kind of functioning democracy…

“The folks who killed 3,000 Americans, they were based in Afghanistan. They have been driven into the foothills…but they are still there. Although they are weakened…they are still there …

“The country is weary of the war,” Obama said. “What I’m trying to do at this point is to make sure that …. all these elements, that we have got a coherent strategy that can work… I’ve got to make sure that the policy in place was worthy of their sacrifice. that’s something that we’re going to worth through systematically. Not going to make a decision about any further troop deployments.

“What we can’t lose sight of is that the reason we went there in the first place and the number one threat that we continue to face,” the president said. “Extremists who are willing to slaughter innocents… make sure they are destroyed, their networks are dismantled.”

Letterman was ready with his “Top Ten reasons why President Obama agreed to appear on the show.

• 10. Heard the lady with the heart shaped potato was gonna be here.
• 9. Thought it would be fun to watch someone else get heckled.
• 8. Something to do with that whole cash for clunkers deal
• 7. Every president since Teddy Roosevelt has done it
• 6. Someone offers you 600 bucks, you take it ladies and gentlemen
• 5. We told him Megan Fox would be here.
• 4. Needed some time to hang out before check in time at his hotel
• 3. I have no idea.
• 2. Said yes, without thinking, like Bush did with Iraq.
• 1. Wanted to congratulate Dave on the big Emmy win.

__________________________________________

My Take: One thing is definitely sure, Obama is not camera shy!  He seems to embrace the public, which most of the previous presidents did not do once they were elected.  The ones who did, like JFK and FDR, did great things for this country.  Hopefully, Obama will continue that trend.

I do believe that Obama is correct in stating that we need some type of health insurance coverage for all Americans.  We do have in place a system for people who are in low income to get medical care, but what about those people who are just above that income limit?  They do not have the money to get health insurance and they make too much to get assistance.

One thing people do need to consider is that Obama did not walk into an easy presidency.  There were a lot of things going on that Bush had not concluded.  Iraq and Afghanistan are only two of the big ones.  Think I will stop now before I get started on these.

__________________________________________

Related Resources

Halloween Has Arrived

One renowned retail store that has locations in major malls and strip shopping centers throughout the East Coast has an online outlet. Year after year there customers trust them to offer them a tremendous – and continually updated – inventory of high quality, affordable Halloween costumes and accessories for men, women, children and adults.  They are proud to bring you that same costume choice online, enabling you to shop conveniently from home, anytime, all year long for the 2009 hottest Halloween costumes available.

Adults Night Out

You are invited to the home of some the most respected online casino players in the world. Designed by the pros, they try to incorporate all the best features that make playing and learning a pleasurable experience. Not only do the pros have decades of cumulative experience playing at the casinos, they also bring a wealth of knowledge about the online casino gambling and can teach you how to play roulette online.

Stage Show

With the superior features, quality and price of equipment, combined with commitment to customer satisfaction and dedicated employees allows one staging equipment company to offer you the best value in the marketplace like ADA ramps.  This company has worked directly with the performing arts center, as well as with JR Clancy and Gala Systems to produce custom applications for the Carnival Center in Miami, FL. by providing such items as band risers including the rolling drum riser, theater risers and theatrical staging equipment.

Get Me a Copy of That!

One online lender specializes in duplicating, replicating, labeling and packaging CD/DVD media.  They believe that over-the-top customer service not only simplifies your experience, but eliminates mistakes and provides a quality product that is on time and affordable.  Other companies cannot compete with their prices and Hollywood CD duplication speed because this company uses the best cutting edge technology to produce a massive amount of product at a daily rate. Once you experience the service you will witness what this company provides the best product at the most competitive prices.  So, get your West Hollywood DVD copy work done today!