The Obamas Jumped The Shark

Presidential jumping the shark: Obamas end year on television,YouTube, and television. 

by James Edward Sved (12/29/2015 — Herald de Paris)

We’re actually seeing a presidency rounding the final turn like no presidency before it.  Never before has a presidency, ‘Jumped the shark,’ a TV industry term for that point when a TV show has to do something desperate to get ratings.  The term was coined when Happy Days, in its final years, decided it would boost ratings by  having America’s favorite mechanic and cool guy greaser, The Fonz, water ski over a pool of sharks … wearing his signature leather jacket, no less.

Barack and Michelle Obama are the most televised, broadcast, and YouTubed President and First Lady in American history, and the lame duck year has not even begun, yet.

Last month, alone, President Obama appeared in the wilderness with Bear Grylls, and rode along with Jerry Seinfeld, riding in cars.  Airing just a couple of weeks after the biggest act of terrorism on American soil since 9/11, perhaps these episodes were ill-timed.  During the same time, Michelle Obama released a rap video, filmed on the White House lawn.  And it doesn’t stop there.  This week, you can catch the Obamas on The Kennedy Center Honors, and Michelle on Broadway at the White House.  True, the Kennedy center venue is a traditional one for a seated President, but it is all the other appearances that make this one, this time, seem so over-saturated.

“It just seems a bit thirsty to me, that’s all,” said SNL alum David Spade, when referring to the Obamas’ television appearances.  Spade went on to say that Michelle Obama appear on The Ellen DeGeneris Show more than he does.  “I think that, you know, Michelle Obama’s on ‘Ellen’ more than I am. I mean, what first lady — it’s just a new world, it’s just I’m not used to it,” Spade said.

Spade isn’t wrong.  Michelle Obama’s IMDB Filmography would be the envy of most struggling actors in Hollywood.

The Obamas want to reach out to disenfranchised kids – nobody is denying them that, it’s worthy and it’s noble.  But while throwing open the White House doors and inviting the public in, like President Andrew Jackson did on his inauguration day, the Obamas are also bringing the Presidency down to the streets.  “I criticized Obama because I thought, you know, a president should have a little more dignity,” Spade added.

This article was originally published in the Herald de Paris on December 29, 2015 .