TWI readers who caught the show may have noticed something familiar — around 5:40 into the segment, Olbermann brought up a screen shot and spent a little more than 20 seconds discussing our own Sridhar Pappu’s smart piece on Letterman’s moment as a modern-day Cronkite. The video is up here.

Nice work, Sridhar!

His appearance on “The View,” which has emerged as the spot to reach swing voters this election cycle, offered more analysis than advocacy for Obama. Clinton even took the opportunity to share unprovoked praise for Sen. John McCain — noting that the Arizona senator was crucial for the Clinton administration’s bid to normalize trade relations with Vietnam.

“It’s striking how one of the world’s great political salesman is acting as an analyst, and not a surrogate,” observed Politico’s Ben Smith after watching the segment, “and making no real effort to boost Obama.”

Chris Rock was even sharper, slamming Clinton for talking about anything but Obama on David Letterman. “Is it me or he didn’t want to say the name Barack Obama?” Rock asked. “I love Hillary but she lost,” he continued, “she got a lot of votes, but she lost. The Patriots got a lot of points too, but they lost to the Giants.” Rock added, “It’s not sexism — the reason she lost — she lost to a black guy nobody heard of! She didn’t lose to ‘The Power.’”

Clinton is still scheduled to stump for Obama in Florida next week. Maybe he’ll ease up on the McCain praise then.