Speaking of which, Obama will be appearing on Mythbusters. I’m sure they’ll blow something up, but whether or not he himself will be the one firing the detonator I cannot say.
Now Mythbusters, I can potentially see the indignity there.
This goes against every inside book or article I’ve ever read about him. On the contrary, one of the main criticisms is that he takes the actual nuts and bolts of the job seriously to an almost naive degree and doesn’t care enough about his public image or politicking.
If memory serves, this was before he was president. Ah, yes, September 16, 1968.
Roddy
I though you had to be kidding about his going on Mythbusters, but nope, he’s going on an upcoming episode. My gawd!
Words fail me. I just hope the episode doesn’t feature water skis and a leather jacket.
The dignity of the office? Oh man, you folks sure were lucky to grow up in an era when the office of President was some fancy pants thing. Speaking as a 24 year old, my earliest Presidential memories included cigars and cumming on dresses. Then there was the whole Bush period.
Look, the Daily Show is no big deal at all. Knock yourself out, Mr. President.
I suspect this was a very sucessful whoosh.
I saw it. I liked it. Obama came off okay and clearly has a sense of humour about himself. Stewart was restrained, asked intelligent questions without too much softball in them.
Obama: [on what his campaign slogan would be, in hindsight] Yes we can, but… [audience laughs]… it won’t be overnight.
Stewart was pretty challenging with him (though I suppose some people will think he was soft because he didn’t demand to see Obama’ birth certificate or call him a Socialist), but the President came back pretty strongly for the most part.
You’re saying somebody would get elected President of the United States because it seemed like a good way to do a couple of guest appearances on cable TV?
Do you even read the things you post?
I really hope you’re referring to Monica Lewinsky and not a meet and greet you went to.
I thought Stewart did a good job of not giving him a foot massage while remembering (as Fox does not) that he’s not an investigative journalist. And I thought Obama parried well and made some good points in his defense. And yet again I regret that even with a hand tied behind his back and as a comedian first and foremost Stewart still asks more intelligent questions than any cable news network host.
Many will claim Stewart soft balled him, forgetting his interviews with the likes of Zell Miller, Rick Santorum, Frau Cheney and other conservative players.
My attitude is almost exactly the opposite. The traditional forums for political discourse (speeches, press conferences, Sunday talk shows) have become utterly pro forma. The interviewers have learned what they’re expected to ask, and the politicians have learned how to not answer them. I find out more about issues and people in settings like this, where they have to think on their feet and answer plain (yet still intelligent) questions in plain language.
TDS is not just any comedy show, they have had several sitting heads of state on. Pervez Musharraf, Evo Morales, and recently the King of Jordan. Stewart is as good an interviewer as many of the actual newsmen, and better in that he’s not afraid to crack a joke or ask a probing question now and then
I’m sure Shagnasty would change his tone pretty quick if Palin was president and appeared on Fox News. It’ll be the first uncensored basic cable showing of mutual masturbation
It has not been my impression that Shagnasty is a Sarah Palin type of conservative. I’m pretty sure he identifies as libertarian.
I’m watching it now. This is hilarious! I like the casual banter from both so far.
“I don’t want to put you in a group of pundits…”
“I don’t want to put you in a group of former presidents…”
HA!
I don’t have a problem with this, or TDS. I’m just grateful that Pimp My Ride is no longer on the air.
Obama seemed to me to be pretty stiff and defensive; he hardly ever smiled, and only did so grudgingly, and on two or three occasions looked like he was about to start wagging his finger in Jon’s face before thinking better of it.
And anyone notice how at the beginning of the piece he set aside the gift mug as far as possible away from himself, with almost a little moue of disdain?
I don’t think he did himself any favors with this appearance.
I thought that was funny, myself, in light of how Stewart had immediately before transferred the water into “Mug Force One” from a standard TDS mug.
And the “heckuva job” moment was amusing as well.
One thing I would have liked Obama to say, when asked about the glacial pace of Washington, was to point out that Washington is slow by design and as such has kept the country stable since the Civil War. Were it subject to radical sweeping changes with the election of a new president, the U.S. would be prone to mass instability and bouts of dictatorship, as are many (indeed, most) countries around the world.
Yeah, there was that (I had the impression maybe he was annoyed to not be getting a regular Daily Show mug, but who knows), and the exchange when Stewart said, “Does that mean I’ve just been invited to the White House?” and Obama immediately said “No.” On the other hand, Obama did give a shout out to the “Rally for Sanity”, so he’s got that going for him.
Anyway, an interesting TV artifact, if not especially compelling. One thing I did find amusing to contemplate, though: Bill O’Reilly (if not Colbert as well) must be positively seething.
Don’t worry. O’Reilly is a conniver. When the next Republican is elected President, he’ll be free to use the O’Reilly forum to give a free one-hour campaign commercial, under the guise of an “interview,” right before the mid-term election, too.
And the liberals will cry “Foul!”