Obama: Washington Is Like Idol, Everyone's a Critic

Thu., Mar. 19, 2009 9:00 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Fresh from filling out his NCAA bracket and trying his darndest to hold this country together, President Barack Obama took a brief timeout for a Tonight Show Q&A with Jay Leno this afternoon, the first time a sitting president has visited a late-night talk show.

While the economy was, as expected, the No. 1 topic, Obama was able to squeeze in a few observations less terrifying than the fact that ours is a "culture of greed" that must change if the U.S. is going to pull itself out of the current financial muck and mire.

"In Washington, it's a little bit like American Idol except everyone is Simon Cowell," the president quipped before descending into the heavy stuff. "Everybody's got an opinion."

Too bad the change we need isn't as simple as adding a fourth judge.

Earlier today, in addition to attending a town hall meeting and touring Los Angeles, Obama defended his decision to appear on The Tonight Show, saying the brief stop in Burbank would not keeping him from more pressing matters.

(Originally published March 19, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. PT)

Loading poll...