It finally took a lefty comedian to point out that President Obama never fulfilled one of the first promises he made as President of the United States: to close Guantanamo Bay. “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart thoroughly documented the president’s ever-changing rhetoric on the broken campaign promise-turned whiny blame game.
Stewart spent nearly six minutes chronicling President Obama’s statements about closing Guantanamo Bay in a video-laced segment that sought to expose the commander-in-chief’s failure to make good on that commitment. Stewart began with then candidate Obama’s promise back in 2007 to close the terrorist detention prison, to his promise to close it one year from the day he was sworn in as president, to his most recent press briefing yesterday when he blamed Congress from blocking his ability to take action.
Stewart began the segment by playing a clip of then Illinois Senator Obama stating in November 2007, “I’ll close Guantanamo,” a phrase Stewart called “three simple words we don’t say to each other enough anymore.”
Stewart then showed a clip of the president stating on January 22, 2009 that “Guantanamo will be closed no later than one year from now,” with the comedian challenging the audience to “spot” the “two small changes” Obama made when he reiterated his promise a year later.
“Make no mistake, we will close Guantanamo prison,” president Obama said at a press conference on January 5, 2010. The host then informed viewers that President Obama uses the term “we” instead of “I” and also uses the phrase “make no mistake” which Stewart claimed is a phrase “almost used exclusively by people who have just been defeated by a superhero.”
Yesterday, President Obama addressed the gitmo issue at a press briefing in which he stated, “Congress determined that they would not let us close it.” Stewart mocked Obama’s blame-throwing by shouting, “Congress! The legislative stone in America’s urethra.”
Stewart also commented on the expanding hunger strike among Guantanamo detainees, calling the forced liquid feeding of 19 detainees “foodboarding.”
Unfortunately, it says a lot about our national media if it takes a host on Comedy Central to point out one of the most obvious and important broken promises President Obama has issued to date.
