Tickle Me Obama: President Obama on Sesame Street

[HopeOverFear]

Most presidents are easy to pin down on our cultural maps. Ronald Reagan was raised in Dixon, Ill., but we placed him in Hollywood, telling America's story on the big screen. Bill Clinton may have been the Man from Hope, Ark., but the mischief of nearby Hot Springs was in his blood. George W. Bush was practically born on the Yale campus, yet Texas was his true terroir.

Which brings us to Barack Obama, who belongs ... where exactly? Kansas? Kenya? Hawaii? Harvard? None of these quite fit our blender in chief, but it struck me recently that Obama does have a cultural home: he's the first President from Sesame Street.


When Sesame Street founder Joan Ganz Cooney met Obama at a fundraiser last year, she was prepared to hear what she always does. "I'd have bet you a million dollars," she says, "that would tell me how his kids watched Sesame Street." But instead the President-to-be told her that he and his little sister watched the show. "I realized that this is the first President young enough to say that."

The Obamas clearly have a deeper personal connection to the show than their White House predecessors did; it was aimed, after all, at kids like them. (Full disclosure: I have a personal connection too; some of my friends work on Sesame Street, and they aren't furry.) When Michelle Obama visited the set in Queens, N.Y., to talk about "healthy habits" a few weeks ago, she was practically fizzing. "I'm on a high," she said. "I never thought I'd be on Sesame Street with Elmo and Big Bird." Let it be noted that this visit came after she'd met the Queen of England at Buckingham Palace and welcomed Stevie Wonder to the White House and enjoyed all kinds of other not-too-bad perks of being First Lady. "I think it's probably the best thing I've done so far in the White House."

The President is every bit as much a product of the show, but it's not just his age and mastery of the alphabet that make Obama the first Sesame Street President. The Obama presidency is a wholly American fusion of optimism, enterprise and earnestness — rather like the far-fetched proposal of 40 years ago to create a TV show that would prove that educational television need not be an oxymoron. Unlike Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans in their idyllic Treasure House, or the leafy land of the suburban sitcom, Sesame's characters were colorful, their milieu was urban; there was noise and grime and grouches, and they hung out on the stoop, not the porch. Parents who were not white, not rich, not able to afford a fancy preschool knew this show was designed for them. Maybe it would level the playing field a little

Watch the video of President Obama on Sesame Street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1mw5iyNQf8

[ClarkUSA]

1. Great read from an original perspective. Thanks.

I hope he make an appearance on the show when he has the time. In fact, if he doesn't do it soon, I will be OUTRAGED. ;)

[lunatica]

2. Interesting factoid. Raised by Big Bird and the Cookie Monster

Maybe that's why he seems to be able to think things through. That's what was the best part of Sesame Street. It connected directly with the interactivity with kids.

[Clio the Leo]

3. lol, why wasn't the video brought by number 44?

40? ....... is that more Reagan spin? :)

... answering my own question .... the video was done in honor of the show TURNING 40 ..... I know that Sesame Street started about the same time as the first moon landing. And we're getting close to that anniversary I think.

[HopeOverFear]

4. Exactly! That puzzled me also

[Recursion]

6. Sesame Street started 40 years ago NT

[HopeOverFear]

7. OH! That's why. Thanks for the clarification. nm

[Twinguard]

5. As a parent of twin toddlers...

I have to give that clip a big "Hell yeah! That's my President!"
Combining Sesame Street and President Obama makes for some great bonding time with the boys.

[mkultra]

9. i second that.

[Cha]

8. Cookie Monster

was always my favorite.:P

I love how Obama is into so many parts of the whole spectrum.