On Letterman, Obama Discusses Palin ‘Phenomenon’

Senator Barack Obama appeared on CBS’s “The Late Show With David Letterman” on Wednesday. (Photo: Jeffrey R Staab/CBS, via Associated Press)

Have you heard? It’s “silly season in politics.”

Or so Senator Barack Obama told David Letterman during an appearance on the “Late Show” on Wednesday night. It was Mr. Obama’s way of brushing off a day that has been fraught with talk of pigs and lipstick — not exactly the narrative the Obama campaign was hoping for.

Mr. Obama also acknowledged all the media attention that has been focused on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, saying that “there’s no doubt that she’s been a phenomenon.”

“I mean, you know, as somebody who used to be on the cover of Time and Newsweek, you know,” Mr. Obama began before Mr. Letterman interrupted: “Those were the days.”

“Those were the days,” Mr. Obama agreed. “I had a recent offer with Popular Mechanics,” he said to laughter.

But the Illinois senator wasn’t about to spend the entire interview poking fun at himself. He fit in a few talking points as well:

Ultimately what we’ve seen over the last week is a concession on the part of the McCain campaign that this election is going to be about change. You’ll recall, you know, for the last two years, we’ve been talking about needing to change how Washington works, how the country is managed and people were saying, ‘No, it’s about experience, experience, experience,’ and over the last week and a half I think they recognized that, no, the American people want something fundamentally different and for a good reason. Because when you travel, it doesn’t matter whether you’re here in New York City or a tiny hamlet somewhere in the Midwest, what you find is people are just having a tough time right now. The economy is not working for middle class families, incomes have gone down, people don’t have health care, you’ve got foreclosures all across the country, and so people want something different, and whoever makes the better case that we have had enough of the last eight years, we need something fundamentally new, whoever makes that case to the American people will be the next President.