It’s no secret that President Obama and Jon Stewart are old pals. But did you also know they have been meeting in secret at the White House?
According to the New York Times, the three-time Daily Show guest and the Comedy Central star met on two occasions, once in 2011 and again in 2014. The meetings were recorded in the official White House visitors’ log as reported by Politico.
Current and former White House officials confirmed the visits, describing them as efforts by the president and his communications team to tap into the host’s influence with younger voters.
“Jon Stewart was a key influencer for millennials,” said Dag Vega, who worked for several years at the White House developing relationships with media figures. “They relied on him for an honest take on the news, and the president and senior staff know that.” Vega also noted that it was “often remarked in senior staff meetings that he was the Walter Cronkite for the millennial generation.”
Stewart’s first coffee talk with the president took place in the Oval Office, with the host entering the White House where public tours start and then being escorted to his meeting with the president. The meeting occurred after Obama, as part of his reelection campaign, had been on a three-day bus tour promoting his American Jobs Act. The Times reports that Stewart jokingly told his escort that it felt like being called into the principal’s office.
Cronkite 2.0’s second trip to the White House took place in February 2014, just as Obama was preparing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Crimea situation in Ukraine. Once again, Stewart joked, this time with the press secretary, that the meeting had gone terribly, though a former aide said the host appeared visibly happy after his conversation with Obama.
According to White House officials, both meetings were requested by the president and lasted about an hour.
Obama made his final appearance on Stewart’s Daily Show last week. He joked that he was attempting to pass an “executive order” to keep Stewart in his hosting chair. “It’s being challenged in the courts,” he said. Jon Stewart’s final episode as the The Daily Show host airs August 6 on Comedy Central.
(Via Rolling Stone)
