President Obama was peppered with banality, frivolity and trivia by four of the five ladies of The View who tried to boost the president’s sagging poll ratings, while the one token Republican on the show, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, asked why the country is so divisive, calling it the “Divided States of America” and “why haven’t you managed to bring it together?”

Obama mumbles something about banking bailouts being unpopular, and then goes into his blame mode of defense saying the media is focusing on differences rather than partnerships.

Joy Behar lauds his many accomplishments, passing some 200 bills, and then says but the “the right is still hijacking the narrative.”  In particular, attacking Fox News.   Where’s your attack dog?” she asks.  “That’s your job,” Obama replies.

And, very frankly, she does a pretty good job at every chance she gets.

Barbara Walters, 80, making a special appearance after heart surgery, asked the president why he selected “The View” to appear on, the first president to do so on a day time talk show?

“I was trying to find a show that Michelle actually watched,” says Obama.

Barbara asks about “the rose and the thorn” of the last month, a game he plays with his family.

The thorn?  He said the economy is in a tough spot, says Obama and it’s been a non-stop effort to turn things around and then ticks off “the oil spill, we have also had two wars, we also had a pandemic – H1N1 that we had to manage.”  “The truth is, it’s not tough for me,” says Obama, “but you think what the American people have gone through . . . those are the folks I draw inspiration from,”

He said the biggest thorn was signing letters to the parents of soldiers killed in battle.

The Rose?  He nominated his weekend vacation in Maine as one of his recent highlights.  While he enjoyed Maine, he suggested others go to the Gulf where oil is flowing onto the beaches.

Whoopi Goldberg brings up the race issue and a scene from Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, and quotes a line”Who are we?” asks Whoopi. “We are Americans,” says Obama, “Everyone here is connected.”

But, “there’s a reptilian side of our brain” says Obama , and we have to fight against that.  There’s nobody in American who doesn’t have to think about their own racial attitudes.”

Now it’s a rapid fire round of cultural questions. Pop culture by Sherri Shepherd.  She says, “Do you know Lindsay Lohan is in jail?” “Yes,” says Obama.

“Do you think Mel Gibson needs anger management?”  Obama won’t bite on this one.

“Do you know who Snooki is?  “I’ve got to admit I don’t know who Snooki is,” says Obama.

Snooki is the star of a reality TV show on MTV called Jersey Shore.

Whoopi wonders what’s on his iPod?

“I’ve got Jay-Z on there, I’ve got Frank Sinatra on there, I’ve got Maria Callas,” replies Obama. Justin Bieber?  “I don’t have Justin Bieber,” says Obama – although he admits he has met him.

Obama says he hasn’t been invited to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, which he says is a sensible move by the Clintons, since having one president at a wedding is bad enough but two would be chaos.  “The secret service would have to open all the presents,” he points out.

Joking, he says the cast of The View will not be invited to Sasha and Malia’s weddings.

Elizabeth tries to bring some substance back to the questioning when she asks about the stimulus program and the ‘saved jobs’ the administration keeps touting implying it is rubbish and that saved jobs isn’t much help for people.  “It is if your job is one of the ones that got saved,” says Obama to a round of applause.

Overall there was a degree of substance in the round of  questions, but perhaps more triva.

In my opinion the levity came from one ad, with an abundance of many, the Kraft Macaroni and cheese commercial where the father gives a time out to his son for a minor dinner table infraction and the father eats the kids meal. When the son returns to the dinner table to an empty plate he asks his Dad, “Have you had enough?”