Here we are, 2010, a week before the national midterm elections. Where does the president appear to support his party and his policies and other endeavors. Not an interview with Katie, Brian or Diane — or their seconds, even though they’re all trained journalists. He didn’t drop in on Dave or Jay. The prez is traveling, campaigning where he might help congressional friends of his, so scheduling a New York or Los Angeles studio stop wouldn’t be so hard. They have millions more viewers and both are sharp fellows, neither shy around power.<\/p>\n
So President Obama drops in on Jon Stewart’s relatively little cable yuks show<\/a>?<\/p>\n From out here in the middle of America, both men did fine. Savvy journalists could have done worse with a sitting president, several have. Stewart got the president to explain himself, move a little past his comfort zone. Which means we in the audience learned a bit more about Obama operates and a little more about where the country stands now.<\/p>\n Stewart was prepared. He both listened carefully and was quick to respond to his subject’s comments and shifting temperament. Stewart made enough quips to remind all he is a comic and not a journalist, and the president expressed some wit himself. Stewart did not hide his criticisms of this Democrat. Interestingly, Obama knew exactly what Stewart had said on the air in the last year and a half.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n In a little while, noon Eastern today (Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010), Stewart and his fellow partner in satirical contemporary comedy, Stephen Colbert, will mount a stage set up on the National Mall. They promise comedy and some music, with a theme of dialing down or intensifying, respectively, the partisan rhetoric that lately passes for political discourse. I foresee an outdoor variety program on the order of Bob Hope’s classic USO entertainments — one-liners, skits, music — but instead of troops, civilians will fill the grounds.<\/p>\n The area in the heart of the District of Columbia for decades has hosted both rallies and shows. After the fall 1995 Million Man March, the National Park Service was discouraged from counting crowds. The agency had angered promoters and supporters by counting just 400,000 participants.<\/p>\n What I want from the Stewart\/Colbert concert is that it ends the preposterousness and pretence of the various mass rallies of the last 15 years, including the most recent, the Tea Party Rally of Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010.<\/p>\n It’s just a show.<\/p>\n No one affiliated with the Stewart\/Colbert concert has said much different. Sure the theme is satire: Stewart says the live program is a Rally to Restore Sanity<\/em>, as opposed to the hyperventilating of the season’s campaign extremes. Colbert says the live program — and it is one and the same — is a March to Keep Fear Alive<\/em>, a poke at the same from a different angle.<\/p>\n I bet it’s more lawn chairs than hiking. I also wager its crowd will be as big as programs where the size of the group was the point.<\/p>\n I can’t go, but I’ll watch on cable, at 11 a.m. Central today. If the TV goes out, anyone can see it on the\u00a0Comedy Central website<\/a>.* So if the show is really good, really bad, or something unusual happens, we can go back to the web and see it again.<\/p>\n No matter what Stewart and Colbert pull off, or fail at, the next time a self-appointed leader reserves a part of the National Mall for a mega-rally, it’ll be compared to this burlesque.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n While working on a piece, I found something remarkable, a visual cue to how the Democrats and Republicans operate this season. By looking at these two websites, you can see all there is. You don’t have to read them. At a glance at each, all will be clear.<\/p>\n Every teen in the land and many grown-ups could not name the majority and minority whips. I couldn’t until I used Google. They’re Jim Clyburn for the Democrats and Eric Cantor of the GOP. Their websites demonstrate how each party is succeeding or failing: majoritywhip.house.gov<\/a> and republicanwhip.house.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n *The link has been updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here we are, 2010, a week before the national midterm elections. Where does the president appear to support his party and his policies and other endeavors. Not an interview with Katie, Brian or Diane — or their seconds, even though they’re all trained journalists. He didn’t drop in on Dave or Jay. The prez is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3429,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/12\/havel-and-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":2289,"position":0},"title":"Havel and Me","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2011 Ben S. Pollock I met Vaclav Havel once, while he was president of Czechoslovakia. We were in a castle. Oh, and I avoided shaking hands with him. Now, he's dead. Not that I'd ever had a chance to renew the, uh, acquaintance. In September 1992, I was in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ben Pollock after a Czech meal 09-1992","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Czech-meal-09-1992-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2165,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/08\/newspaper-paper-or-plastic\/","url_meta":{"origin":2289,"position":1},"title":"Newspaper, Paper or Plastic","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"My first \"President's Column\" for columnists.com. Thank you for electing me president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Didn\u2019t you hear? I have not published a running column since Sept. 16, 2001. Instead I\u2019ve written at www.benpollock.com\/brick for nearly seven years. After the first year, the water warms up.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4990,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2014\/12\/bill-cosby-full-press-court\/","url_meta":{"origin":2289,"position":2},"title":"Bill Cosby: Full Press Court","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This week, comedian Bill Cosby resigned as a trustee of Temple University in Philadelphia, on whose board he sat 32 years. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the decision came after a petition drive and other pressure on the performer's alma mater, which followed a flurry of news this fall on years'-old\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bill Cosby, 2010. Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bill-Cosby-2010-public-domain-361x496-218x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":129,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/07\/cant-get-no-supreme-court-action\/","url_meta":{"origin":2289,"position":3},"title":"Can’t get no (Supreme Court action)","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Thursday, July 21, 2005. When we say the president names a nominee who then gets the appointment following the advice and consent of the Senate, we mean everyone from the Cabinet and a few top Executive Branch positions to all the federal judges. So far\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6453,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/01\/thats-what-he-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":2289,"position":4},"title":"That’s What He Is, All Right","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Official White House photos of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence From Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, to Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019, neither spoken nor written have I ever used the phrase President Trump or any variation. That is I did not adjoin the word \"president\" and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Portraits-of-President-Donald-J.-Trump-and-Vice-President-Mike-Pence.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":684,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/10\/abraham-and-sarah\/","url_meta":{"origin":2289,"position":5},"title":"Abraham and Sarah","author":"Ben S. 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