March 17, 2009 | 12:14 pm

Obama will talk to Leno on ‘The Tonight Show’

Posted by Danielle Berrin

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That history-making Barack Obama is at it again with another historic “first.” As if becoming the first African-American president in U.S. history wasn’t enough, he will become the first sitting president—drum roll please—to appear on a late-night talk show. President Obama will hit the couch with Jay Leno on this Thursday’s “The Tonight Show,” presumably to discuss his economic recovery plan.

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An interesting bit from the L.A. Times:

By taking a seat Thursday night on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Obama will become the first sitting president to appear in such an unlikely venue, erasing—perhaps once and for all—any vestige of the line that separates news from entertainment.

It will also extend Obama’s habit of speaking past the Washington press corps and ditching the capital for events that distance him from the Beltway status quo; for those keeping accounts, Obama may be sending a signal by going on the “Tonight Show” and then skipping Saturday night’s Gridiron Club dinner.

The evening of music and comedy hosted by an exclusive Washington journalists’ organization is a white-tie highlight of the capital’s social season. But Obama plans to spend the evening with his family, becoming the first president since Grover Cleveland not to show up for the first Gridiron dinner of his presidency.

“He’s kind of setting a tone that he’s not going to be restrained by the rules,” said Michael Dimock, associate director of Washington’s nonpartisan Pew Research Center