Jon Stewart's Wednesday interview with President Barack Obama demands to be taken in two parts.
For the first 15 minutes or so, Stewart let Obama have the equivalent of a campaign commercial -- essentially uncontesred free air time to explain away his failures by blaming others for his mistakes and emphasizing how "historic" his presidency has been. The president was also given mucho room to plug Democrats campaigning in tough races throughout the land.
As they say in the credit card commercial, cost: priceless.