Liberalism After Jon Stewart

The Daily Show and the counter-establishment.

Host Jon Stewart at 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' covers the Midterm elections in Austin with 'Democalypse 2014: South By South Mess' at ZACH Theatre on October 28, 2014 in Austin, Texas.
Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Comedy Central

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By David Weigel

February 11, 2015 at 1:55 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Jon Stewart's guest on the Nov. 7, 2005 episode of The Daily Show was Illinois Senator Barack Obama. The interview was friendly, to put it mildly—the working assumption of both men was that the Republicans had wrecked the country and (quoting Stewart) "if you just stand back and get out of the way, people are going to have to vote for the other party." Stewart got some jokey answers from his guest, and closed with a question about all the "hype" he was getting just a year after coming to the Senate.

"It is true, I worry about the hype," said Obama. "The only person more over-hyped than me is you."