Was President Barack Obama talking to Congress or pitching his independent film during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night? That’s what Jon Stewart wants to know.
On Wednesday night’s episode of The Daily Show, Stewart lit into the President for opening his speech with a series of stories about ordinary Americans, something that sounded a lot more like a movie pitch.
“Oh boy, strap in everybody,” Stewart said. “All right, it looks like he’s going to mention everybody in America by name.”
The President’s speech was so lacking in teeth, the host concluded that Obama must have taken a course from the Learning Annex on “passive aggression for Jewish mothers.” Then Stewart joked that he was going to guilt everyone into calling their moms — only to hear that Obama had done exactly that.
“Don’t you ever talk about my mother!” Stewart exclaimed.
The host concluded that Obama’s strategy during the speech had been to “announce goals so vague there’s no way to gauge if he’s actually achieved them.”
But then Stewart got to the meat of his criticism: that it’s the fault of Republicans that the President can’t accomplish anything.
The host tore up Republicans, calling bulls**t on their efforts to work hand-in-hand with Obama — and their apparent disappointment that the President promised on Tuesday night to circumvent them if needed. The late-night host accused the GOP of being buddy-buddy in front of the cameras while negotiating backroom deals to block the President at every turn. He then pointed to Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) as an example of what Republicans are like when the cameras are turned off.
There’s a catch, however. That the biggest thing the President has been able to achieve during his time in office — namely universal healthcare — has been an absolute disaster. Maybe Stewart should be sending Republicans a thank-you note.
Watch the segment below:
