It was an extraordinary appearance by one of the world's most admired and talented performers. And before the brilliant cellist Yo-Yo Ma appeared on the Tonight Show, Barack Obama also showed up on Jay Leno's sofa.
Tuesday night was Obama's fourth appearance on the highest-rated late night TV talkshow, and his second as president. This time there was less of the light-hearted banter that had marked earlier appearances: this was a serious President Obama answering questions about the deaths of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Muammar Gaddafi.
While protesters and police battled on the streets of Oakland, in the pre-recorded interview Leno asked Obama for his view of what was behind the Occupy Wall Street movement:
Look, people are frustrated. And that frustration expresses itself in a lot of different ways. It expressed itself in the Tea Party, it's expressing itself in Occupy Wall Street ... Everybody needs to understand that the American people feel that no one is looking out for them right now.
The answer, according to Obama, is that if people have a job and feel that they can get ahead, "then people won't be occupying the streets".
Leno asked Obama directly what the US had accomplished in Iraq after 4,000 deaths and a trillion dollars in spending.
After listing the death of Saddam Hussein and stability in Iraq as valuable achievements, Obama paused to reflect:
I think that policy-makers and future presidents need to understand what it is that we are getting ourselves into when we make some of these decisions, and there might have been other ways for us to achieve those same goals.
Overall, Leno gave the US president a comfortable ride, offering openings for Obama to pitch for his jobs legislation and housing mortgage refinancing efforts. "The bad news is your approval rating is 41%. The good news is that you're three times more popular than Congress," Leno told his distinguished guest.
Yo-Yo Ma followed with his bluegrass ensemble, playing a track from their new album The Goat Rodeo Sessions, out this week.
