Late Night: Stephen Colbert on Obama’s ‘slow jams’ backlash
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Depending on whom you ask, President Obama’s slow-jamming performance on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ was either a charming bid to appeal to young voters, or an off-puttingly obvious attempt to pander to a key voting demographic in a contentious election year.
On Thursday night, Stephen Colbert weighed in on the controversy, calling the ‘preezy of the United Steezy’s’ appearance ‘a pathetically successful ploy to seem appealing.’ This put him at odds with the talking heads at Fox News, most of whom parroted the same talking point: That visiting a comedy show, or for that matter, doing anything vaguely funny, is somehow undignified.
Bill O’Reilly even unfavorably compared the president to Harry Truman, to which Colbert responded, ‘Why can’t Obama be more like Harry Truman? He knew how to reach out to the youth vote: Nuke Japan.’
He then offered up a strategy for placating the Fox News crowd. ‘If Obama must go on these shows, he should do it with dignity, like Romney did on Letterman,’ Colbert said. Cue footage of Romney saying ‘What’s up gangstas? It’s the M-I-double-tizzle’ on ‘The Late Show,’ an appearance that failed to spark a similar outcry from the right.
‘Now that’s the kind of gravitas we want in the leader of the free wizzle,’ Colbert said sarcastically.
The host ended with some advice for the young voters of America. ‘Remember, kids. When you step into that voting booth, ask yourself: Who do I like, the guy I like, or the guy I don’t like? I think the choice is clear.’
What do you think?
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— Meredith Blake
twitter.com/MeredithBlake