Former President Barack Obama believes that speaking out more often, like late-night TV’s overtly political hosts, would only “diminish his impact.”
“For me to function like Jon Stewart, even once a week, just going off, just ripping what was happening... then I’m not a political leader, I’m a commentator.” Obama, 64, declared in an interview with The New Yorker on Monday.
“By the way, I’m glad Jon’s doing it,” Obama, who joined Stewart, 63, on The Daily Show seven times during his presidency, added.
Since Obama left office in early 2017, late-night hosts like Stewart have evermore used their shows to critique the sitting administration—much to Trump’s ire. The relationship between the presidency and late-night pundits has never been closer nor more contentious.
Last week, two days after Trump, 79, publicly called for his cancellation, the FCC launched a challenge to the broadcasting licenses of Jimmy Kimmel’s network, Disney. It is the second time in less than a year that the late-night host has been the target of a president-backed FCC threat.
Obama has played his cards relatively close to the vest in the past decade, but he says he’s doing more behind the scenes than anyone realizes.
“The media environment is so difficult that people don’t even know all the stuff I am doing, right?” he said. “And, I think, when they do see me, then the sense is Well, why isn’t he doing that every day instead of just during a midterm election, or during a referendum campaign around gerrymandering, or what have you?”
The former president’s longtime strategist, David Plouffe, said that Obama’s relative quietness has become one of his key strengths post-presidency.
“People who are going to be decisive in elections going forward do not seek out information about politics—they encounter it,” Plouffe, 58, said, telling The New Yorker that Obama’s more casual media appearances broaden his outreach.
“Obama will talk about things, and there will be video clips that are interesting to people,” he said, “because it’s not like a droning on in a political speech.”
Obama admitted that President Trump’s attention-grabbing second term has brought him back into politics “more than he would have preferred.” His role as de facto leader of the Democratic Party, even four election cycles post-presidency, has even strained his marriage.
“It does create a genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her,” he admitted.
“I’m more forgiving of it, in the sense that I understand why people feel that way, because people aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other presidents. They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-president was the main surrogate for the Party for four election cycles after they left office,” Obama said.
Obama has filled his post-presidency time with campaign appearances, fundraiser hosting gigs, and voice recordings for robocalls and video ads. He has partnered with Netflix, made himself available for dozens of podcast appearances—including the final episode of Marc Maron’s landmark podcast—and will make an appearance on The Late Show this Tuesday night, just two weeks before Stephen Colbert’s show goes dark for good.
“The fact that people want me to be ‘doing more’ is a good sign,” he concluded.
