Comedian Jon Stewart provides viewers of the "Daily Show" with edgy, comedic satire not to be misinterpreted as actual "news." Despite his obvious liberal bias, Stewart has taken President Barack Obama to task on numerous occasions over policy decisions and the abundant scandals that have plagued the administration.
Stewart draws his content from current news and political headlines and his perspective, even if delivered "tongue in cheek," strongly influences his viewers. He has elevated the "Daily Show" from its previous light focus on current culture, to a show that hits hard on both national and global issues.
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Here are seven times Jon Stewart has taken President Obama to task:
1. When President Obama failed to join other world leaders at the unity rally held in Paris, even the most liberal of pundits had to scramble to find excuses for the president's lack of judgment and leadership. America was not present in the line-up of world leaders who, after radical Islamic terrorists attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo, showed up in support of free speech. As reported by the
LA Times, Jon Stewart took his dismay and turned it into a bitter joke. "How could Obama not be there? Look at how many world leaders he could have bowed down to and apologized."
2. In a segment called
"Guardian of the Amnesty" Jon Stewart criticized President Obama's executive action on immigration. He specifically addressed Obama's past statements about not having the constitutional right to change the law via executive action until now, when he has become not the president, but the "emperor."
3. Jon Stewart called President Obama the "Barry Bombs of drone strikes" over Obama's use of drones to kill American citizens working with al-Qaida. During a show clip called
"Romancing the Drone," Stewart criticized Obama for loose interpretations of the meaning of "imminent threat." He further noted that it's unconstitutional to kill an American citizen unless it's "an American we’d really like to kill."
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4. The Gruber-Gate scandal in which the architect of Obamacare repeatedly stated that passage of the legislation relied on the stupidity of the American voter drew Jon Stewart's ire. Stewart called Obama's technique of passing the bill "pretty slimy."
5. President Obama frequently claims he had no knowledge of various scandals within his administration until they are covered by the press.
Jon Stewart took Obama to task for this saying, "I wouldn’t be surprised if President Obama learned Osama bin Laden had been killed when he saw himself announce it on television."
6. Jon Stewart called out President Obama on the healthcare scandal for his emphatic promise that if people liked their current healthcare plans and doctors they could keep them. The promise was a disingenuous ploy to get the legislation passed. When Obama tried to modify it, Stewart created an
"Affordable Horror Story" segment. "What you said was, 'You can keep it. Period.' Now what you said there was more like, 'You can keep your health-care plan — ellipses, comma, because it may no longer meet the minimum requirements, or your insurance company may stop offering individual plans, or some other odd bureaucratic unintended off-shoot — period, emoticon depicting a combination of embarrassment and arrogance."
7. In 2011, President Obama said he was going to increase troop levels in Iraq but called them "advisors" and "training partners," rather than boots on the ground.
Jon Stewart said, "I think this is all sounding a little [expletive]. The more out of your way you go to call these ‘not boots on the ground,’ the more we’re going to think that these are boots on the ground. So now we’re going to have 3,000 troops in Iraq again."
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