Jon Stewart has some fun with Obama's imperial immigration reforms

Jon Stewart has some fun with Obama&#039;s imperial immigration reforms — (Image credit: The Daily Show)

In 2013, President Obama said that he can't act on immigration reform without Congress — "I'm the president of the United States, not the emperor of the United States," he told an online forum. Well, "basically, all it took was one bad midterm election," said Jon Stewart on Monday night's Daily Show, to make Obama see that it's good to be the king.

But Obama's apparent about-face on executive action was just the beginning of the fun. Stewart rolled his eyes at House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for having to check his notes to remember the word "govern," compared Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to "a non-Jedi trying a Jedi mind trick," and mocked Mitt Romney (in pig Latin) over his total "lack of awareness" for telling Obama to do what Republicans want because he lost the election.

And what are Republicans proposing as an alternative to Obama's executive action on immigration, a path already traveled by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush? Stewart asked. "You don't govern through executive order — you govern through shutdowns and impeachment." Good times. --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.