Jon Stewart Confirms His Radical Sympathies in Obama Interview

Last night's interview between Jon Stewart and President Obama was a far cry from their jovial encounter two years ago almost to the day. Instead of sounding like two kindred spirits yucking it up, there was quite a bit of tension between the two.

The interview certainly cemented Stewart's role as the nation's most popular liberal kool-aid sipper. Reality may have turned the post-partisan Obama into a political attack dog, but Stewart remains as naively liberal as ever.

An exchange towards the end of the segment captures the general attitude of the interview. Stewart pressed the president on why he hadn't worked harder to ram a lefty agenda into law - why he hand't been more audacious.

Obama's response: "My attitude is if we're making progress, step by step, inch by inch, day by day that we are being true to the spirit of that campaign."

Stewart was having none of it. He spent most of the interview wondering why Obama hadn't been able to implement all the joyously liberal legislation he discussed on the campaign trail. He bemoaned "the distance between what you ran on and what you delivered," and claimed that the agenda the administration has managed to get through "has felt timid at times."

Under "timid," read "not liberal enough." Stewart's complaint was that the Obama agenda has not come to completely dominate the national political scene. He's not concerned that perhaps the president has overreached. No, to the extent that there are problems with Obama's policies, they are due only to the fact that those policies are not far enough to the left.

Obama defended his record - though he admitted at times that it had been tainted by political forces - and laid the blame for his failures where he always does: Republican obstructionists, an impatient electorate, and George W. Bush.

Here's video of the full interview. Let us know what you think in the comments.