Rant on.

On Friday, after my usual bit of verse, I posted a link to Jon Stewart’s interview with President Barack Obama.  This was unusual in a couple of respects:  It was the first time he had interviewed a U.S. President while he was still in office.  The interview took up the entire program.  That is, Jon didn’t do his usual opening bit covering a variety of current issues; he simply introduced the president and got going with the interview.  The interview itself stepped outside of Jon’s usual acerbic style a little bit, which is to say Jon was a little less pointed with his questions than he usually is.  He still had a jab or two, but–and this was also unusual–he mostly let the president talk.

This reminded me of an Oprah show I watched many years ago.  I am not an Oprah fan and I think the only time I have watched her show is this once, but she had John Larroquette, Robin Williams and another comedian on.  (I can’t remember which one, but he was also a big name.  Oprah did not have control of her show on this occasion.  She threw out an occasional question or comment and the three funny men kept the audience laughing.

In a similar fashion, Jon Stewart threw out questions and comments and President Obama ran with them, explaining his point of view at length.  Jon listened intently and demonstrated his strong knowledge of current events.  One could tell Jon was holding back, that his usual sarcastic wit.  He even acknowledged this at one point, and it made for a very positive experience.

Which is the next unusual thing.  Most political things–ads, debates, whatever–these days have a very negative slant.  There are ads on the air which attack candidates which aren’t even sponsored by any opposing candidate.  But Jon’s interview with President Obama was positive.  They shared a few jokes and Jon asked some tough questions which the president responded to thoroughly.  He didn’t put down Republicans or the Tea Party or anyone else; he simply declared and then supported his point of view.

My rant today, then, is following that vein.  Usually I blather on about the wrongness of something.  Even when I am talking about the rightness of something–evolution, for example–I often do so by attacking the counter-arguments.

President Obama’s message in the interview was clear.  The country is struggling, yes, but things have improved significantly since he took office.  Unemployment is high, but it has held fairly steady around nine or ten percent for quite some time now.  Most of the job decline came in his first few months he was in office and so could hardly be blamed on him.  Obama has seen jobs created under his administration.

What Obama has done in his first 20 months as president, really, is to stabilize the country.  His critics overlook this in favor of pointing out what he has not done.  This is a perception issue, I believe.  As he pointed out, while the country has not made positive progress in many areas, it has stopped the negative movement which was present at the time he was elected and in the first few months of his presidency.  This is progress, just not the superheroic stuff some folks wanted to see.

The interview left me with a very positive feeling.  Not just about President Obama, but about the country in general.  I know that, as I mentioned above, I have complained in this blog from time to time about this bad thing or another, but generally speaking I am actually happy with my country.  Yes, there are ways it could be better, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad or even that it’s getting worse.  Things have, in general, gotten better since Obama took office.

Anyway, it was an outstanding, positive interview.  I highly recommend it.  It was the second best show Jon Stewart has ever done.  The only better show was his post-9/11 show, and that stands out for mostly different reasons.  I say “mostly” because it, too, presented a positive outlook.  Jon’s message that day was that we needed to continue on, and to that end he was going to continue doing his job as a comedian and make people laugh in the face of the terrible things that happened.

Shortly after Obama took office–and by “shortly” I mean within a couple months, before he had a chance to effect any real change–some people put a bumper sticker on their car asking “How’s that hope and change thing going for you?”  My answer today is even more enthusiastic now than it was then, especially in light of the Jon Stewart interview:  It’s going extremely well.  Thanks for asking.

Rant off.