(Image source: WTFX/White House)

BY NICOLE THOMPSON

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

President Barack Obama hit the comedy circuit during his West Coast tour when he sat down with Jay Leno for NBC’s the Tonight Show Tuesday. The two talked about issues ranging from Qaddafi’s death...

Barack Obama: “You never like to see anybody come to the kind of end that he did, but I think it obviously sends a strong message around the world to dictators that people long to be free.”

...to the NBA lockout...

Jay Leno: “So I know you’re a big basketball fan, this lockout, it’s depressing!”

Obama: “Ah! Heartbreaking!”

...and, as the Washington Post points out -

“The Comedian-in-Chief... got off at least one good one-liner.”

Leno: “Have you been watching the GOP debates?”

Obama: “Um, I’m gonna wait until everybody’s voted off the island.”

But not everybody’s laughing. The Baltimore Sun’s TV critic is downright mad at the president.

“It's outrageous for our president to be playing these calculated, dippy, little TV games when so many of us are in such need of real leadership... Bouncing from crosscountry fund raisers to TV appearances with yuk-yuk, fawning courtiers like Jay Leno is how you take care of your own political career, not the nation you were elected to serve.”

A blogger at the Daily Beast agrees with the accusation against Leno, saying he wasn’t quite tough enough on Obama.

“Leno... might just as well have been scripted by David Axelrod. Unlike The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, who piercingly challenged Obama with one tough question after another... Leno seemed content to provide the nation’s top Democrat with an infomercial masquerading as a guest-shot.”

But whether Leno was easy on the president or not, USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing, this appearance was a great political move for Obama.

“This is kind of the Barack Obama that people like so much personally, but do you think it helps him politically?

“Oh yes, absolutely. We know a lot about the weaknesses and vulnerabilities that President Obama has going into his reelection fight, especially on the economy. He has some big advantages too and that is that people have a favorable impression of him. They have a favorable impression of his daughters, they like his family life. When he shows his sense of humor, which he doesn’t always do, I think that’s very disarming. So yes I think this is... It’s not going to convince people their lives are better off, but they like the fact that they have a favorable view of him.”

And a blogger at health and lifestyle site Third Age reports, Obama’s chat with Leno is a breath of fresh air.

“[Obama] ‘spends a lot of time talking about serious subjects,’ says Obama spokesman Jay Carney, as reported by UPI. The president ‘doesn't get enough opportunities to be lighthearted in the way you can be with Jay Leno.’”

Whether this appearance was good or bad for Obama, the Christian Science Monitor points out, it brings to light the whole ordeal politicians have to go through now to get noticed.

“The visit shows the diverse strategy today’s politicians must use to reach wide audiences. ‘It used to be that the president could go on national TV and reach huge numbers at once, but now it takes a crazy quilt of media appearances to put together the same numbers,’ points out Robert Thompson, founder of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University in New York.”

Transcript by Newsy.