President Obama has been in the news recently for everything from the mundane—his NCAA bracket—to the offensive—his “Special Olympics” crack on the Tonight Show—to his presidential duties—dealing with the AIG situation. Rather than praising or criticizing his presidential policies, we would like to applaud the president for constantly reminding us of something we quite often forget: That he is human.

Once elected, all presidents tend to take on a “larger than life” quality. A president becomes a symbol and a figure rather than a person. Obama especially seems to be affected by this phenomenon because of the polarization in reactions to both the man and his policies. There are two very significant factions: one that thinks he is an infallible American savior, and another that thinks he is hell-bent on ruining American society, as we know it. There are, of course, those in between, but these two entities have propelled him even further into symbolic status.

From the beginning of his term in office, President Obama has for the most part presented himself as a pretty normal guy.

He’s still an avid sports fan: he has his own NCAA bracket that can be found on ESPN.com.

He’s still owning up to his responsibilities: when asked about the recent AIG bonuses situation, he was quoted on the Tonight Show as saying, “On the AIG thing, all these contracts were written well before I took office, but ultimately I’m now the guy who’s responsible to fix it. And one of the things that I’m trying to break is a pattern in Washington where everybody is always looking for somebody else to blame.”

He still admits when he’s made a mistake: when making an offensive joke comparing his bowling skills to the Special Olympics on the Tonight Show, he recognized his mistake, and made sure to call and apologize to the chairman of the Special Olympics on his way home, even before the show aired.

He’s still going out of his way to listen the opinions of the American people: he recently held an online Town Hall meeting to address questions that everyday Americans had submitted for the president to answer.

Ultimately, we’re pretty impressed with President Obama, and his continued efforts to remain and portray himself as a relatively normal guy while still rising into symbolic status. We think it’s an important characteristic for the leader of our country to have, and we look forward to seeing more of this genuine character, and the positive changes it will continue to bring to our country as a whole.