On Daily Show, Obama pokes fun at Iran deal critics
On 7th and final appearance with Jon Stewart, president says Tehran is an anti-US, anti-Israel adversary but peace is not made with friends
President Barack Obama made a final appearance Tuesday on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, joking with the outgoing host about his looming retirement, the messiness of the Middle East and the now-infamous Iranian nuclear deal, which was endorsed by the UN Security Council Monday.
The politically savvy comic will host his final show on August 6, after a decade-and-a-half in the job.
In 2010, Obama became the first sitting president to appear, and Tuesday marked his third appearance since entering the White House. Obama has been on the show seven times in total.
“I cannot believe you are leaving before me,” Obama said according to a pool report of the taping, joking that he would issue an executive order to stop Stewart from leaving.
“It’s being challenged in the courts,” he added, a wry reference to his repeated legal battles with Republican rivals.
When Obama made a first pitch for his diplomacy with Iran, Stewart saw an opening, asking “whose team are we on in the Middle East?” before laying out the amalgam of alliances and enmities that crisscross the region.
“That’s not quite right,” Obama joked, “but that’s okay,” before Stewart interrupted: “Who are we bombing?”
Obama went back repeatedly to the issue of Iran, using Stewart’s vast audience to make his pitch.
The president poked fun at opponents of the deal, joking that critics think if only former vice president Dick Cheney had been at the negotiating table, “everything would be fine.”
Obama said Iran is an adversary that is anti-American and anti-Israel. But he said you don’t make peace with your friends. Obama added that the US doesn’t have to give anything up in the Iran deal and said the next president will have more options because of the agreement.
“I really want people to pay attention to this issue,” Obama said, urging citizens to engage by contacting their members of Congress.
“If people are engaged eventually the political system responds,” he said.
Stewart shot back: “Is that the advice that you then bequeath to future President Trump?”
Obama said he was sure the Republicans were enjoying the real estate mogul’s often controversial candidature.
“Anything that makes them look less crazy” said Stewart.
Stewart will be replaced by South African comic Trevor Noah.