7:50 am Oct. 19, 2012
President Obama appeared on "The Daily Show" last night, but hours before the program aired, conservatives were already seizing on a quote from the pool report, in which the president describes the death of four Americans in Benghazi as "not optimal."
The poolers scrambled to fill in the context, which includes Jon Stewart's question: “Is part of the investigation helping the communication between these divisions?" Stewart asks. "Not just what happened in Benghazi, but what happened within. Because I would say, even you would admit, it was not the optimal response, at least to the American people, as far as all of us being on the same page."
"Here’s what I’ll say," Obama responded. "If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal. We’re going to fix it. All of it. And what happens, during the course of a presidency, is that the government is a big operation and any given time something screws up. And you make sure that you find out what’s broken and you fix it."
Stewart also asked about Obama's sub-optimal debate performance, saying he sometimes has “open-faced turkey sandwich and a shot of NyQuil” before he does his show.
“Look, I think, obviously, I had an off night," the president said.
