President Barack Obama apparently loves talking to people.

In recent weeks, the commander in chief has held several town hall meetings — meetings that encourage audience participation in a question-and-answer format — one was streamed online from the White House.

His desire to take questions from the people and address them accordingly shows an unprecedented openness to White House affairs.

Taking questions from the people almost seems to say, “Look, pulling this country out of the hole is a team effort. Here’s what we’re doing. What do you think?”

The people finally get to have a voice in government affairs. That’s so thoughtful.

But is all of it really necessary?

Obama’s recent visit to “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” received harsh criticism despite tripling the show’s average ratings, mostly drawing fire from the president’s comparison about his bowling skills with the Special Olympics, a rare foot-in-mouth instance for the usually collected orator.

Additionally, Obama compared the presidency and his critics to “American Idol” and notoriously harsh judge Simon Cowell, who told Absolute Radio the hit Fox show was trying to land a guest spot for Obama.

Your eyes did not just deceive you.

Fox wants Obama on “American Idol.”

It’s understandable, even commendable for the president to be so involved with the American people, but this is just too much.

There are bigger things to worry about than appearing in between overplayed karaoke crooners to address who knows what.

Yes, appearing on the show would boost ratings. And yes, the president would be reaching out to the people, but is it really the proper setting?

Picture this: You’re watching TV, hearing covers of songs by U2. The music stops, the audience applauds and Ryan Seacrest passes it off to Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson with special guest judge President Obama.

The judges give their usual criticism, moving down the line to Obama, who takes the opportunity to ask the audience about the economy.

You’re confused. When do they get back to the music?

Mr. President, we appreciate your efforts to gauge Americans’ opinions on your presidency, and we encourage your use of town hall meetings to achieve this.

But please, don’t make this an all-out blitz on the media, taking politics to places where it just doesn’t fit.

We’ll leave that to Rod Blagojevich.

The editorial is the majority opinion of The DEN editorial board. Reach the opinions editor at [email protected].