Jon Stewart, Obama debate

Obama, Jon Stewart and Change

President Obama took his campaign get-out-the-vote blitz to “The Daily Show” on Wednesday, telling the host, Jon Stewart, that he never promised transformational change overnight.
“When we promised during the campaign change you can believe in, it wasn’t change you can believe in in 18 months,’’ Mr. Obama said. “It was change you can believe in but were going to have to work for it.”
The 30-minute interview, before a wildly enthusiastic crowd of 550 at the Harman Center for the Arts in downtown Washington, a short drive from the White House, was Mr. Obama’s first appearance on the show as president, though he was also a guest during his run for the White House in 2008. The president used the appearance to defend his agenda and make a pitch for people to get out and vote; Mr. Stewart used the interview to press the president with the critique he often hears from the left, by characterizing his agenda as timid – a characterization the president fiercely resisted.

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Obama Tells Jon Stewart: Summers Did ‘a Heckuva Job’

President Barack Obama, taping Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, gave a shout-out to Lawrence Summers – one the outgoing director of the White House National Economic Council probably could have done without.
Mr. Summers did “a heckuva job,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Stewart quickly admonished: “You don’t want to use that phrase, dude.”

The reference, of course, was to former President George W. Bush’s praise of then-FEMA director Michael Brown’s management of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts – a job widely considered bungled.

The fake news show and interview, scheduled to air tonight at 11 EDT, also touched on a number of topics, from health care to Senate filibuster rules – an evident appeal to younger voters six days before Tuesday’s midterm elections.

The president’s appearance comes in advance of Comedy Central’s rally in Washington this weekend with both Mr. Stewart and Steven Colbert – an apparent satire of conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s August rally to “Restore America.”
Here are some highlights from the taping session this evening, from the White House pool report:
– “When we promised during the campaign ‘change you can believe in,’ it wasn’t change you can believe in 18 months,” Mr. Obama said.
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