(JNi.media) Jon Stewart will interview President Obama for the last time on next Tuesday’s “Daily Show.” It will be Obama’s seventh appearance on Stewart’s show, third as president.
Obama was also one of the last guests on David Letterman’s Show in May, and on The final Colbert Report last December.
Stewart’s last show will be on August 6, and Trevor Noah, his replacement, will start hosting the show on September 28.
Bloomberg speculated that the president will take advantage of his appearance to push the Iran deal.
Back in March, Stewart described Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech against the Iran deal, before a joint session of Congress the day before, as a “festival of slights,” and ” the State of the Union address the Republicans wanted, delivered by the leader they wished they had.”
Stewart also told one Hanukkah-related joke, saying “it was a miracle. Standing ovation that was to last for one minute miraculously lasted eight.”
Will Stewart be hard hitting in this final interview with the President?
Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney recalled in an interview that the 2012 Obama reelection campaign had been eager to get the President on with Jon Stewart, “because the young voters we were trying to reach are more likely to watch The Daily Show than some other news shows.”
Carney also said that “probably the most substantive, challenging interview Barack Obama had in the election year was with the anchor of The Daily Show.”
Stewart was tongue-in-cheek critical of Obama when the President did not come to Paris to show solidarity with the victims at the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January:
“How could Obama not be there, look how many world leaders he could have bowed down to and apologized to,” Stewart wailed. “He missed an opportunity. How could the US not be there when representatives of such beacons of freedom and lack of censorship as journalist-punishing Russia, journalist-jailing Turkey, Egypt, enough said. Palestinian cartoonist-jailing Israel was there. And of course our greatest ally Saudi Arabia, having just days ago flogged a blogger. Couldn’t Obama have at least sent a friend?”
Regarding the Iran nuclear program, Stewart had one of his rare diatribes on this topic last April, pointing the finger at none other than former Vice President Dick Cheney:
Stewart argued Cheney was responsible for letting Iran expand its nuclear program. Before he became Vice President, Cheney was chief of Halliburton, seeking to open contracts with Iran, but was unable to do it because of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Stewart showed how the Bush administration took down the Iraq government, which kept Iran in check, and put in a leader who is friendly with Iran like former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. And it only cost $1.5 trillion.
Overall, despite his obvious affinity for the President, Stewart has not held back his criticism of the Obama White House over the years, slamming it for numerous failures, lies, repression of civil rights, you name it. But will the Daily Show Host be critical of the Iran deal in this parting interview, or will he serve the President the softballs he needs to deliver his points on the deal?
We’ll know in a couple of days.