Obama gets his 'Daily Show' moment of zen

WASHINGTON — President Obama stayed mostly serious during Wednesday's appearance on The Daily Show, defending his record as the host Jon Stewart poked him about the promises of "change" he made during the 2008 campaign.

Less than a week before Tuesday's elections, Obama said his team prevented an economic depression, revived private sector job growth and passed a historic health care plan. "We have done an awful lot that we talked about in the campaign, and we are going to do more," Obama said.

At one point, Stewart said Obama ran for the presidency with "audacity," but some of his legislation felt "timid." Obama somewhat testily replied, "Jon, I love your show, but this is something where I have a profound disagreement with you ... this notion that health care was timid."

When Obama said his administration has done things people don't know about, Stewart said: "What have you done that people don't know about? Are you planning a surprise party for us?"

Discussing complaints by supporters, Obama said his actions are discounted because the "assumption is we didn't get 100% of what we wanted, we only get 90% of what we wanted, so let's focus on the 10% we didn't get."

The interview took place in a playhouse in downtown Washington about 10 blocks from the White House. Stewart, normally based in New York City, is broadcasting this week in Washington before hosting a "Rally to Restore Sanity" with fellow Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert here on Saturday.

"Obviously you've got a constituency of younger voters that watch that show, and it's a good place to go and reach them," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Naomi Seligman was in the audience with her fiancé, Andrew Gumbel. The couple from Santa Monica are getting married in Washington on Saturday.

Seligman said she thought the talk was "smooth and funny."

Obama's appearance was "a great vehicle for people who don't usually care about politics," she said. "The prism they know it through is Jon Stewart. ... This makes you feel like you're sitting with him having a beer."

(source:usatoday.com)