Obama has always been better at ‘pandering’ than ‘persuasion,’ Sen Kennedy says
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., discusses former President Barack Obama’s conversation with Stephen Colbert during which he criticized political prosecutions and praised NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani on ‘The Will Cain Show.’
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., unloaded on "best buds" Barack Obama and Stephen Colbert after their friendly sit-down aired on Tuesday and quipped during "The Will Cain Show" that the pair should get a "motel room."
Obama sat down for an interview with late-night comedian Stephen Colbert at his new Presidential Center in Chicago, ahead of the comedian's show ending in mid-May. The former president made veiled critiques of President Donald Trump, praised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, opined on the state of both political parties, and suggested Colbert would be a better president than Trump.
"It's no news flash that President Obama does not like Republicans. It occurred to me that he might have been pandering to Mr. Colbert and his audience, all seven of them. President Obama has always been, better at pandering than persuasion, that was my first thought," Kennedy told Cain.
"I also got a kick out of Mr. Colbert. He and President Obama are obviously best buds. Maybe they ought to get a motel room or something. They were just fawning all over each other. I don't have anything against Mr. Colbert. I've always thought that he was shallow as a puddle. Now, he doesn't believe that. He thinks he's one of the smartest people on the planet. If you don't take my word for it, ask him. His personal vanity has always been unshakable," he said.
President Barack Obama appears with Stephen Colbert on the CBS series "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in New York on May 5. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS)
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Kennedy then brought up Colbert's show cancellation.
"But his problem is not his vanity or his intelligence, it's his numbers. He was losing CBS $40 million a year because nobody was watching. So CBS told him to sit his 50-set a-- down, and they said well, 'You're fired,'" Kennedy added.
Colbert's final show will be on May 16. CBS announced in 2025 that the show would be canceled at the end of the season, citing financial reasons.
Colbert hinted during a recent interview that while there does not appear to be definitive proof that his show was canceled for political reasons, he thinks it's the most likely explanation.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., talks to reporters as he moves through the basement of the U.S. Capitol in between votes on July 31, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Former President Barack Obama speaks with students during a visit to Learning Through Play Pre-K with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, on April 18, 2026, in the Bronx borough of New York City. Stephen Colbert speaks onstage during the 51st Chaplin Award Gala honoring George Clooney at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on April 27, 2026, in New York City. (Angelina Katsanis - Pool/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for FLC)
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Despite acknowledging the traditional broadcast model was in trouble amid a changing media landscape, he suggested during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "There are many people who believe there was another reason. And, as I said in the most measured tones I could muster, there is a reason why people believe that. The network had clearly already done it once by cutting that $16 million check [to the Trump administration]."
Both Cain and Kennedy expressed some surprise over Obama's praise of Mamdani. Kennedy said he thought Obama was a capitalist.
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"I always thought President Obama was a capitalist. He certainly seems to have an affinity. For Mayor Mamdani, and Mayor Mamdani is a socialist. He calls himself a democratic socialist, but that's a socialist that believes in obtaining socialism through the ballot box. So that wouldn't surprise me," Kennedy said.
Obama and Colbert did not immediately return requests for comment.
