President Obama trades lawnmower maintenance tips with regular customers at a casual seafood restaurant frequented by people who like reality TV shows and sports.

Did you really think the media would give up on their president that easily? Not a chance – they’ve got too much invested. And we’re starting to see the emergence of their new sales pitch. Call it “Barry from the block.”

The Smartest Human Being Ever to Draw Breath suffered a “shellacking” in the midterms from an electorate too dim to appreciate the beneficence of his policies. Well then, time to dumb it down a bit and talk in terms the booboise can relate to.

Hence on Dec. 28 we have one of the dopiest articles ever to appear in that repository of dopiness, the Washington Post. Staff Writer Perry Bacon Jr. says with just a touch of awe that Obama “doesn’t seem to shy away from the divisive social and cultural topics that Americans are debating in their living rooms, gyms and workplaces.”

This important rumination was spurred by the news that the president had called the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles to congratulate the team on signing Michael Vick after his release from prison for doing really evil things to dogs. What to some sounds like the action of a guy with strange priorities, or who is too taken with the perks of office (“Get the Eagles on the phone. Bet they’ll be shocked to hear from moi!”), to Post writers is proof that Obama cares about the same stuff we do.

Ok, not the religion and guns stuff, or learning how to throw a baseball, or running a business, or the whole patriotism thing, but on the other stuff, he’s just Joe six-pack.

Bacon reminds us of all kinds of reasons we want to go get a chili dog with ol’ Barry:

He has spoken out about the responsibility of fathers to raise their children, has condemned the arrest of a prominent black Harvard professor who said he was the victim of racial profiling, was heard chastising Kanye West for the rapper’s rude behavior at the MTV Video Music Awards, and recently said his views on gay marriage were “evolving” from his previous opposition.

Imagine, a liberal black politician with views on race and social issues! Imagine a guy as narcissistic as Obama believing we need to hear his views on any topic at hand!

Then there’s the crucial paragraph – the one that’s both a nod to reality and a giant parade float advertising the pointlessness of the entire article:

Obama is not the first president to be curious about what Americans are thinking and talking about. President Bill Clinton also urged American fathers to do better, while President George W. Bush condemned the widespread use of steroids in baseball.

So if all presidents talk about issues, why waste the ink in praising this one for doing it? It could just to puff a little air up your guy’s skirt.

Or maybe it helps advance the new White House narrative of a president frustrated that he’s been stuck in D.C. handling crisis after Republican-caused crisis, not out mixing it up with the regular folks who care about Kanye West and Mike Vick. The administration has even let it be known that once he’s back from his latest vacation, he wants to find ways to get out there and connect with us all.

So Bacon’s just preparing us. Don’t be alarmed if the president appears in you back yard. He just wants to talk about “divisive social and cultural topics.”

Related posts:

1. To Obama, Justice is for the Dogs
2. Vick’s Recent Flurry of Success is No Reason to Deny Forgiveness
3. Four on Four: EA Sports ‘NBA Jam’ Pits Obama, Gore and Clinton’s against Bush, Palin, McCain and Cheney
4. The Attack on Menthol Cigarettes: Why is the Obama Administration Targeting Another Demographic?
5. Obama: If GOP Doesn’t Cave, Old People Will Die