WASHINGTON — An appearance on “The Daily Show” offered President Barack Obama little comic relief from the serious midterm election campaign, as he was peppered with tough questions rooted in whether he has lived up to the promise of his 2008 campaign.
The mood was lighthearted during Obama’s interview with Jon Stewart on the satirical Comedy Central program, but exchanges were direct.
Stewart challenged the president about “timid legislation” to reform the nation’s health care system; about the economic recovery and financial reform; and about whether it was possible to keep the inspiration and change promised in his 2008 campaign.
“You ran on the idea that this system needed basic reform. It feels like some of the reforms that passed — like health care — have been done in a very political manner that has papered over a foundation that is corrupt,” Stewart asked.
Obama argued that the work of his administration was unfinished, that he had promised “change you can believe in,” not “change you can believe in in 18 months.”
“Over the last two years in the emergency situation,” Obama said, “our attitude was that we’ve got to get some things done. In order to do that, (we) basically worked with the process as opposed to transforming the process, and that frustrated folks. It frustrates me.”
He acknowledged that frustration would likely be reflected in the coming election.
“Over and over again we have moved forward on an agenda that is making a difference in people’s lives each and every day,” he said. “Now is it enough? No, and so I expect and I think that most Democrats out there expect that people want to see more progress. We have done an awful lot that we talked about during the campaign and we’re going to do more.”
Obama challenged most strongly Stewart’s suggestion that health reform was “timid.”
“This is what most people would say is as significant a piece of legislation as we have seen in this country’s history,” he said. “What happens is it gets discounted because the assumption is we didn’t get 100 percent of what we wanted, we only get 90 percent of what we wanted — so let’s focus on the 10 percent we didn’t get.”
