What President Barack Obama is doing tonight on the "The Tonight Show" presents a tremendously difficult balancing act. While the President's press secretary says that Obama is not going on the show to demonstrate his sense of humor, one wonders why else would you go on with Jay Leno?

Barack Obama is one of the most engaging, dynamic and charismatic politicians in American history. His past performances on entertainment shows like "The Tonight Show" have been excellent. But this is not a political campaign during the so-called "silly season" in which the bar is a lot lower than it is for a sitting U.S. President. Jay Leno is no serious interviewer and when he tries, he is not very good. So one wonders what is so "funny" or "entertaining" about the greedy AIG executives who took those bonuses? What is so "funny" or entertaining about the performance of Tim Geithner so far? And ultimately, where is the joke in Americans losing their jobs, their homes and their sense of confidence in the American economy?

On the other hand, if the President goes on to simply "sell" his complex and multifaceted economic recovery plan—how much fun is that going to be? It is depressing and anything but entertaining. So why would you want to do that on "The Tonight Show" where your audience is tuning in just for that reason?

If anyone could pull this off it is Barack Obama, but there is much more down side than there is upside. If he is going on with Leno to be serious, I've got two words to offer: MICHAEL RICHARDS. You remember what happened when he went on with Jerry Seinfeld to apologize for his racist rant?

What's going to happen when Leno starts making jokes about the AIG executives or the fumbling of Geithner or the economy and stock market barely hanging on? How is Obama going to react? Will he laugh? Smile? Frown? What is he going to do when Leno does what he gets paid millions to do, which is to make people laugh regardless of the subject matter? And ultimately, if Leno goes the other way and plays it totally straight, that's not going to be a lot of fun either.

All I know is that the ratings should be great, because this is a high wire act that a lot of people will tune in to see just out of curiosity.