海角大神

Obama on 'Daily Show': Did he best Jon Stewart?

Jon Stewart allowed Obama the time to frame responses the way the president wanted to. Stewart hosted Obama on 'Daily Show' Wednesday night.

President Obama was on 鈥�The Daily Show鈥� Wednesday night, in case you haven鈥檛 heard. And after watching the appearance several times, we have to ask this: Did Mr. Obama take Jon Stewart to the cleaners?

Did the president wrap "The Daily Show鈥� host around his finger? Did he take him downtown? Did he engage Mr. Stewart in verbal fisticuffs in a way that can be described, using any number of other journalistic clich茅s, as victorious?

And here鈥檚 the inflammatory question: Do Republicans deserve equal time? We'd love to see possible Speaker-to-be John Boehner on "The Daily Show." Or the biggest news-show get of all: Sarah Palin.

Monitor List: Obama on 'Mythbusters': Five more presidential TV cameos

Well, first, Stewart seems to be kind of a Democrat. That鈥檚 become pretty obvious over the years. So he treated Obama with respect. He asked respectful questions. He respectfully allowed Obama lots of running room in response to those questions.

(To be fair, Stewart might have been just as gentle with a GOP president. He鈥檚 a comedian first and foremost, and when comedians interview presidents, they seem to need to prove that they can be substantive, as we talked about Wednesday. Nonfunny journalists, in contrast, seem to need to prove they can be aggressive.)

This approach produced an in-depth half-hour or so discussion of public policy. Most reviews of the appearance have noted that it was far more serious than it was funny. They discussed the nature of change in the American political system and how difficult it is to accomplish that. They discussed whether Democratic candidates around the country are trying to distance themselves from Obama administration policies. They discussed the high unemployment rate.

But within this lengthy discussion, Stewart allowed Obama the time to frame responses the way he (Obama, that is) wanted to. The host did not challenge the president when, for instance, he discussed unemployment largely in terms of how many jobs had been lost before Obama administration economic policies took effect.

There鈥檚 an election only days away, remember, and Obama鈥檚 been campaigning hard. He鈥檚 got his talking points down, and his purpose in appearing on 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� was to present those as well as he could to the young voters who rely on Stewart and his quasi-news team for much of their information.

IN PICTURES: Who will be at the Rally to Restore Sanity?

Yes, Stewart did challenge the president on the effects of health reform 鈥� but from the left, not the right. The comedian at one point implied that the health bill had been 鈥渢imid.鈥�

That鈥檚 a batting practice pitch right into Obama鈥檚 hitting zone.

鈥淭his notion that health care was 鈥榯imid,鈥� you鈥檝e got 30 million people who are going to get health insurance as a consequence of this,鈥� began Obama. Then he revved up his stump defense of the health bill, drawing cheers from the studio audience.

At the end of the interview, when Obama made a reference to Stewart鈥檚 upcoming rally on the National Mall, it was ... an underhanded compliment. A backhanded dig. Something like that.

鈥淵ou know, the one other thing that might have made a difference is if you had held the Rally to Restore Sanity two years ago,鈥� Obama said.

Snap!

Monitor List: Obama on 'Mythbusters': Five more presidential TV cameos