Elvis Has Left the Building, by Monica Crowley

Editor’s Note: Monica Crowley, Ph.D., is a panelist on The McLaughlin Group, the host of the nationally syndicated radio program "The Monica Crowley Show" and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

[On Friday] Barack Obama made his first public appearance since being elected president. (Unless you count the people who saw him working out at the gym, automatic weapons-toting Secret Service in tow.)

After meeting with his economic advisers, he had them line up behind a podium before he stepped to its microphone. The room was full of reporters, who fell into a reverential hush when he walked into the room.

The Anointed One finally speaks! What will he say?

Not a whole lot, as it turned out. He made a few prepared remarks about the economic crisis (nothing new there), and took a few short questions about whether he had answered Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s congratulatory note (he’s thinking about it), whether they had picked out a new puppy for his daughters (they’re still looking) and if he’s seeking advice from former presidents (something about not doing seances with the dead former presidents that later required an apology to Nancy Reagan).

Then he said, "Thank you very much," and left the building, Elvis-like.

The press was in full genuflection. And the president-elect was in full control mode. I hope he enjoyed that breathtakingly brief interlude with the press, because he’s not going to be able to get away with it much longer. The press supports him, of course, and they will do their best to protect him. But their job is to "cover" the president, even when that coverage is biased. So they will still need answers from him for their articles and columns and television and radio reports. Taking a question about the family dog and then bolting isn’t going to cut it much longer.

If the media is as protective of him as a security blanket, then why did he jet outta there faster than Michael Moore at a Jenny Craig consultation?

Because he wants to limit his exposure so he doesn’t make any gaffes. The media will allow that now, as part of the honeymoon they want to give him anyway. But in a few weeks, they will expect more. And more. The Anointed One will have to feed the Beast. Or he may be amazed by how quickly the Beast may turn on him. Of all the unwelcome surprises coming his way, that may be the most jarring of all.