A (surprisingly?) lucid take on Stewart's interview with Obama on #thedailyshow. I have to say I have been impressed with Stewart's abilities as an interviewer, particularly with guests he clearly doesn't agree with. He presses them, but he doesn't go out of his way to belittle them or humiliate them.
While joshing around with Barack Obama last night on a set festooned with faux Roman columns, Stewart spoke as the voice of disenchanted liberalism, demanding to know: What happened to that hope-and-change guy?
"You ran with such, if I may, audacity… yet legislatively it has felt timid at times," the host said. "I am not even sure at times what you want out of a health care bill."
That the president of the United States would appear on the Daily Show six days before a midterm election that could sink his party speaks volumes, or at least chapters, about that buzzworthy forum. But it was also a test of sorts for the host, who is casting his big "sanity" rally in Washington as an escape from the nuttiness fostered by the extremes of both parties.
I'd say Stewart passed the initial exam, making Obama feel comfortable while also delivering the zinger that "Democrats this year seem to be running on 'please baby one more chance.'"
Stewart told me years ago that he regarded the nightly interview segment as little more than filler that spared his staff from having to write one more comedy sketch. But it's evolved into an key component of the program, as anyone who saw his combative sessions with CNBC's Jim Cramer or health care critic Betsy McCaughey can attest (though Stewart conceded that Bush torture defender John Yoo "slipped through my fingers").
Read more at www.thedailybeast.com
No comments:
Post a Comment