You would think that President Obama would grab every opportunity to speak to the public. He certainly is a great one for making speeches. But he now has decided that he will boycott the Fox Channel…not boycott per se, but just decline to appear on it because he does not like what Fox says about him.

While it’s quite true that the Fox Channel is not a supporter of the Democrats, it is true that the other TV channels appear to be. He has appeared on them many times.

It would behove the President to face his opponents rather than be intimidated by them. Or worse still, create the impression of sulking when he is not surrounded by adoring Obama fans and that is not a good look for a “strong” leader. It’s as if he thinks that if they won’t say something nice about him he won’t front up for an interview.

Obama is an excellent speaker and would impress the public if he didn’t act afraid. Anybody would feel relaxed on his home ground on the ABC or CNN but it’s how one behaves in unfriendly territory that marks the man. Nobody respects a man who runs away from “a fight”.

I bet that our former Prime Minister, John Howard, would not have been intimidated in that way, nor would our current Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for that matter.