POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

PriO!rities III; Fundraising and an appearance on “The View”

Illustration courtesy of Fox news

Will preclude the President from speaking at the Boy Scouts of America's jamboree; an event that coincides with that group's milestone 100th anniversary.

President Obama will make history as the first sitting president on a daytime talk show when he visits with the ladies of "The View." But he'll be missing out on another historic occasion -- the Boy Scouts' Jamboree marking the group's 100th anniversary, right in the president's backyard. 

But the president will instead be traveling Wednesday to New York for a taping of the ABC show, as well as Democratic fundraisers and a stop in New Jersey. The talk show appearance comes as campaign season moves into full swing, but also amid efforts to cap the Gulf oil spill for good, contain the damage from an unprecedented leak of Afghanistan war documents and battle Arizona over its immigration law -- set to go into effect Thursday. Obama also has an out-of-town event planned for Friday in Detroit. 

Every president is typically invited, though not all are able to attend. Obama's three predecessors each made it to one Jamboree in person. President George W. Bush spoke in 2005, President Bill Clinton in 1997 and President George H.W. Bush in 1989.

I mean, I guess one really can't be too hard on the President for standing up the Boy Scouts in favor of more pressing business; getting some face time on "The View" without the inconvenience of facing, you know, actual reporters and spending some time in a toney uptown Manhattan salon collecting big bucks from fat-cat uber-libs.  A man's got to have his priorities in order, know what I mean?

And, I mean, then there's the optics of the whole dealio.  Conventional wisdom on the left is that the Boy Scouts are basically homophobic, quasi religious, ultranationalist, fly-over country rubes; kind of a bumpkin brownshirt jugend in their opinions.  They're not cosmopolitan, tolerant or transnational enough I guess, even though, in reality, they are a multi-national organization.  But facts are stubborn things, so it's not surprising that at a time when he's struggling to energize his liberal base to see Mr. Obama conveniently find other things to do, such as lining his pockets at a fundraiser;  and certainly not be hangin' with an organization who's values seem diametrically opposed to the ideology of his political base.

Of course there are many, even some among his supporters, that question the dignity of the President appearing on a coffe clatch TV show like "The View", and would prefer he stick to serious news programs instead; cue "fast Eddie" Rendell:

“I think the president should be accessible, should answer questions that aren't pre-screened, but I think there should be a little bit of dignity to the presidency,” Rendell told MSNBC, at one point comparing "The View" to "The Jerry Springer Show."

This isn't the first time I've been inclined to agree with fast Eddie.  But in my humble opinion, dear reader, Mr. Obama gave up his dignity long ago.  What do you think?

Rocketman