During the election of 2008 much of the commentariat was convinced candidate Obama just couldn’t relate to the average American. Obama was too aloof and arrogant. He needed to get his bowling score above 200. He needed to chug more beer or at least make people want to do a keg stand while he held their feet. Whites didn’t love him. He was too mysteriously foreign and ethnic aka Hawaiian. Rendell himself was nervous that whites in PA would never love him.

Everything’s changed now that Obama is President of the United States. Governor Rendell thinks Obama should be above certain things. Especially a daytime show, like The View. Barbara Walter’s daytime show reaches an audience that is 79% women and has a median age of 59 which is in the 45-64 age group. Obama tied John McCain in this demographic overall (49%/49%) and lost to McCain among white voters in this demographic (42%/56%). Since 2008, The View has been steadily gaining market share among women aged 18 to 49. With this appearance, Obama will be reaching more women than he would appearing on cable news at a Rose Garden press availability (in 2009 The View‘s average audience was 4.2 million up from 3.5 million in 2008). The President and his political team probably want to address national issues, especially economic issues (unemployment, housing crisis, stimulus, jobs) with women voters that could vote Democratic or GOP in the 2010 midterm elections.

Regardless of all that, Rendell told the panelists on Morning Joe that he believes that Barack Obama shouldn’t go on “The View” because it isn’t dignified enough. This is an odd opinion from Ed Rendell who amidst this current recession and state budget crisis never gave up his gig co-hosting Eagles Pre-game and Post-Game live on Comcast Sports Net Philadelphia. During that same budget crisis, Gov Rendell was also a guest on Dr. Phil where he was to discuss Michael Vick’s return to the NFL and philly cheesesteaks (video below).