Jon Stewart has long been one of my favorite people in the news business. Yes, he’s a comedian. Yes, he’s a liberal who irks my conservative sensibilities. Yes, he’s often wrong, but he’s principled. This is a rare quality, particularly in the media world.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet Stewart on three occasions, each time in the green room of his studio before a taping when one of the congressmen or senators I’ve worked for was his guest. Each time, Stewart came by to say hello to his guests beforehand, and he seemed generally interested in what they had to say. The Daily Show host seemed to have a genuine intellectual curiosity about those he might disagree with, and each time his questions reflected this. I was pleased that he seemed to be a man of integrity off-screen as much as on. And when it comes to drone strikes, Stewart proves that he isn’t about to let his liberal leanings alter his opinions on the issue as many other left-wing pundits have done.
Back when George W. Bush was in office, the Left was up in arms about Dubya’s decision to wage a secret drone war, most notably in Pakistan. At the time, liberals questioned both the wisdom and constitutionality of Bush’s drone policy. But now that Barack Obama is in office, the Democrats have changed their position. As CNN reported in September, “Covert drone strikes are one of President Obama’s key national security policies. He has already authorized 283 strikes in Pakistan, six times more than the number during President George W. Bush’s eight years in office.”
I ask you, where’s the liberal outrage? Where are the antiwar protesters calling Obama a “war criminal?” For the Left, apparently it isn’t a crime if their president does it. And after it was reported that the president had begun assassinating American citizens with drones — no judge, jury, or trial — I was sure the Left would react in unified horror. But again, they were silent.
The rare exception again was Stewart, who recently ripped Obama for his drone war and his reluctance to explain how his administration determines that an American national is an “imminent threat” and therefore worthy of being taken out by a drone strike.
The Daily Show host pointed out that Obama himself was a fierce critic of Bush’s foreign policy and lack of transparency. In particular, Stewart took issue with the vagueness of the term imminent threat. “So, wait, we can kill an American who is in Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda-adjacent if they post an imminent danger, and by ‘imminent,’ we mean ‘eventual,’” Stewart said.