I am about to state the obvious … which is that Donald Trump’s presidency is off to a rocky start.

He took the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States, gave his inaugural speech, witnessed a parade in his honor, signed an executive order or two in the Oval Office, went to some inaugural balls and then awoke this morning to an entire planet protesting his inauguration.

Millions of women — and men! — hit the streets all over the nation and the world to signal their dissent at his election. It might not end for a while.

White House press flack Sean Spicer held his first news briefing today at the White House. What did he talk about? Not about the protests … oh, no, not at all. He griped about the media’s coverage of inaugural crowd estimates!

I think the president needs to deal with this. Somehow and in some fashion he needs to address the nation about the concerns expressed on streets all across the nation.

Women are concerned about the president’s stated disrespect of women; his admission of sexual assault on women; his disparagement of women; the degrading manner in which he talks about women’s appearance. The litany of insults goes on.

Women now are fearful of what Trump and Congress will do to issues close to their hearts: reproductive rights, women’s health, equal pay, to name just three.

Let’s set aside that Trump was elected in the first place. He won an election he wasn’t supposed to win. Women around the country wanted to see of their own — Hillary Rodham Clinton — make history by becoming the first women elected president. It didn’t happen.

The candidate who did win, Trump, has a record with which he must face his critics.

Will he do it? Will he face his critics? Will he answer their concerns specifically?

I believe a real leader would — and should — stand before the nation and talk specifically about the protests that have been mounted.