Yes We Can, but...

Viewers of yesterdays airing of The Daily Show were treated to a rare sight, President Obama being defensive on his own turf. Entertainer Jon Stewart maintained a modicum of "professional" impartiality by putting the President through the requisite (given how poorly the country has performed under his leadership) ringer of loaded questions. Interestingly, Obama didn't rise to the challenge but instead exhibited the same behaviors and emotions of every other politician who faced the stinging satire of Stewart: awkwardness, defensiveness, and a general uncoolness. Uncoolness was a condition that was never attributed to Obama before, but henceforth it will always have a sofa in his living room of a psyche and persona. Even more damaging to Obama the political brand was the damage he inflicted on his own iconic, although stolen at Cesar Chavez's expense, political motto. Stewart asked the President whether he would be able to use Yes We Can again in the 2012 election. Obama answered stiltedly: "Yes we can but...but..." At this moment the audience and Stewart had began laughing, while Obama continued to attempt to answer the question, but no one really cared at that moment. The damage had been done, and everyone knew it. There is a gift wrapped ad blurb just ready for use in two years time.

Maybe, just maybe, the curtain has finally been drawn on the Wizard. Image and perception were Obama's twin pillars to the idea of Obama the President. Republicans have been trying to change that perception, but nothing has been quite as effective as what the President did to himself on Comedy Central.