Obama Grilled By Stewart On "The Daily Show"
By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 28, 2010 2:00PM
President Obama took his eleventh hour campaign push for the midterm elections to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" last night for a wide ranging interview in which Stewart firmly but respectfully asked Obama about the differences between Candidate Obama's rhetoric of "change you can believe in" and the actions of his Administration in its first 18 months.
Stewart mixed in a moderate amount of humor to temper the force of his questions to Obama, who seemed at times to chafe at Stewart's inferences that his Administration was "timid" on issues such as health care reform, financial regulatory reform and the stimulus package, and how some incumbent Democrats across the country are campaigning by distancing themselves from the achievements of the 110th Congress. "How did we go in two years from hope and change to 'You're not going to give (Republicans) the keys?'" Stewart asked.
Obama countered that a majority of the jobs lost during his Administration so far have happened before the financial reforms took effect; many of the Democrats in struggles this election year are in traditionally Republican districts where their opponents are benefiting from the influx of campaign funds in the wake of the Supreme Court's majority decision in the Citizens United case; and that voters remain unaware or ill-informed of what this Congress has actually achieved.
"When we promised change you can believe in, it wasn't 'change you can believe in in 18 months,'" Obama said.
Obama's appearance on "The Daily Show" also should go a long way toward dispelling current notions that going on shows like this and "The View" degrade the office of the Presidency. Lying beneath Stewart's armor of humor is a political humorist who is disappointed by many of the Obama Administration's decisions. Yet Stewart has enough respect for the office of the Presidency to not hammer through his solely his point of view, unlike either Fox News or MSNBC who've made a mockery of the Fairness Doctrine. Obama, for his part, handled the interview well, but did fall into the patterns of wonkiness that his campaign brain trust kept under wraps so well during his 2008 campaign.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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