Jon Stewart Gives Lukewarm Support to Joe Biden
Former TV host-turned-filmmaker Jon Stewart used a Wednesday night visit to Stephen Colbert’s “A Late Show” to first dig at, and then warm to, presidential candidate Joe Biden.
“Biden was not my guy. Wasn’t even in the top four,” Stewart said. “I was more of a Sanders moron.”
“But having watched him on (Colbert’s “A Late Show”) and having spoken to him at other times and seeing him in other situations,” Stewart said there is more to Biden.
Stewart admitted that he is “not crazy about” Biden’s attempts at down home, folksy warmth, his “Uncle Joe” character, and Corn Pop. “All that kind of stuff feels shaky to me. But I feel like that’s not the core of who that guy really is.”
Then, veering into the U.S.’s current social and political woes, Stewart came round to explain why Biden might, after all, have some of the necessary answers.
“We are a country in terrible anguish right now. We are in pain… the blindfold is off.. and we are kind of seeing ourselves as who we really are.
“American exceptionalism is not a title, like you were Miss America 1937 and you’ll always be Miss America 1937. It takes effort and work to maintain. And if you treat it as a fait accompli it will erode and you will lose it. And we are seeing that erosion.
“We are fearful, and we are angry, and we are in pain.
“When I see Biden, past the schtick, I see a guy who knows what loss is. Knows grief. And I think that kind of grief humbles you.
“There’s a humility to the randomness of tragedy that brings about a caring that can’t be faked, can’t be contrived.
“And I think in this moment what this country needs is a leader of humility.”
