President Obama visits David Letterman's Show

Sunday President Obama revealed a bit of information about his daughters' schooling and social life. He also talked about a recent date night with the first lady. However, he did talk some politics.

Photo: President Obama visits David Letterman's Show

After breezing through a battery of TV interviews Sunday with hardly a revealing moment, President Obama finally let out some fresh information Monday night on the "Late Show with David Letterman."

He let slip a few personal details about his daughters, an off-limits topic elsewhere. He disclosed the name of a movie he saw recently with his wife. And he managed to talk a little about healthcare and Afghanistan too.

The information wasn't exactly breaking news, but the president has been busy hammering home an old message about the overhaul of the healthcare system.

And, in fact, Letterman let him talk about his favorite topic for a good stretch of the show. Letterman was content to listen as Obama talked about the plight of the uninsured and about his ideas for making things better.

In a more personal moment, Obama talked about how tough the homework load is at Sidwell Friends School, the Quaker school his daughters, Sasha and Malia, attend in Washington.

"We decided there weren't going to be any fancy camps during the summer," Obama said. "They basically just goofed off during the summer . . . which I couldn't do," Los Angeles Times reports.

It was also reported, the No. 1 answer was: "Wanted to congratulate Dave on the big Emmy win."

On Sunday, Letterman saw the Emmy for best variety, music or comedy series go -- for the seventh straight time -- to Jon Stewart's "Daily Show."

Obama's appearance was largely serious. Letterman asked about Afghanistan, the economy and health care.

Is it true, he asked Obama, that racism fuels the hatred against him? "First of all, I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election," Obama deadpanned.

"How long have you been a black man?" the host chimed in.

But the star might have been an audience member from Missouri named Mary Apple. Before Obama arrived, Letterman had made fun of Apple for bringing a heart-shaped potato -- the same wrinkly one she had brought to Letterman's show two years earlier.

"The main reason I'm here -- not any of those Top 10 lists -- I want to see that heart-shaped potato," Obama said when he came out, The Washington Post reports.

Obama's visit made him the first sitting president to appear on Letterman's program. He had been on Letterman's show five times before, though, most recently in September 2008.

The White House said it was a good way for him to reach yet another audience as Obama wraps up a blitz of TV appearances, trying mainly to build support for his health care plan.

As president, Obama also went on NBC's "Tonight" show when it was hosted by Jay Leno.

After the taping, the president returned to his midtown Manhattan hotel and quietly emerged a while later in gym clothes and a baseball cap. His destination: the church across the street for some basketball with his aides, The Associated Press reports.