According to a new report by Politico, leftist faux newsman Jon Stewart was called in at two "sensitive moments" for "secret" consultations with President Obama, presumably to help shape the narrative of the president's actions.
Politico's Darren Samuelsohn reports that Jon Stewart was twice "summoned" by President Obama in the midst of important political moments: once in the middle of the much publicized budget showdown between the administration and Republicans, and another time just hours before the president was going to give a speech warning Russia not to intervene in Ukraine.
Jon Stewart slipped unnoticed into the White House in the midst of the October 2011 budget fight, summoned to an Oval Office coffee with President Barack Obama that he jokingly told his escort felt like being called into the principal’s office.
In February 2014, Obama again requested Stewart make the trip from Manhattan to the White House, this time for a mid-morning visit hours before the president would go before television cameras to warn Russia that “there will be costs” if it made any further military intervention in Ukraine.
Samuelsohn emphasizes not only the significance of the timing of both visits, but that both meetings were previously unreported (though they were listed in the White House visitor logs). The "secret" discussions, Samuelsohn notes, underscore the massive cultural influence wielded by Stewart:
Love Stewart’s jokes or hate them, he has proven to be a unique voice who is capable of turning in-the-weeds policy discussions into viral video sensations that the country is still talking about the next morning.
As the White House recognized, Stewart can, at times, be a more potent influence on policy than Obama himself. The 52-year-old funnyman is widely credited with changing how the government treated military veterans and Sept. 11 first responders and for canceling a hyper-partisan CNN talk show. His broadsides against President George W. Bush’s Iraq war and a series of Obama missteps had a searing effect on how Americans thought about Washington.
Top Obama aides David Axelrod and Austan Goolsbee knew Stewart’s voice mattered and made sure to field calls and emails from the host and Daily Show staff.
Read the full report here.
