Is it unseemly for an elected official to host a weekly chat TV show?

Everything flows from the top.  I’m not saying that Obama encouraged his advance Security Service team to have riotous orgies, but I’m also not surprised that a corrupt administration ends up having corrupt employees.  A leader’s ethos will always trickle down.

Speaking of which, I see a continuum between Michelle Obama sully the White House by hosting a game show in the East Room and the fact that California’s Lt. Governor (which is, after all, an elected position) is going to host a chat show on Gore’s soon-to-be defunct CurrentTV.  (And no, I can’t prove that it will be defunct; it’s just that it has an Air America stench floating above it.)

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting a new platform for sharing his made-in-San Francisco values — a cable television talk show.

Current TV, the liberal-leaning cable channel co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, announced Wednesday that it had retained the telegenic lieutenant governor to host a weekly hour-long program during which he will chat up “notables from Silicon Valley, Hollywood and beyond.”

I’m sure that both Current TV and Newsome’s own people have checked the law carefully to make sure he isn’t violating any rules and regulations by tearing himself away from his political obligations, slender though they may be, in order to have his Oprah moments.  Nevertheless, there is something unseemly about an elected official moonlighting as a TV chat show host.