Obama appears on 'Daily Show' with Jon Stewart

President Barack Obama apparently thinks politics is no laughing matter, even when he's staring down a comedian.

Obama barely cracked any jokes during an appearance yesterday on "The Daily Show" despite host Jon Stewart's many attempts to draw the president out with a few of his own snarky wisecracks.

Less than a week before the Nov. 2 congressional elections, Obama said he hopes Democratic lawmakers who made tough votes will be rewarded with another term in office. He promised more but unspecified accomplishments in the two years left on his own term in the Oval Office and urged people to vote - early if they can.

Stewart asked how the political environment got to the point that Democrats "seem to be running on 'Please, baby, one more chance' " just two years after Obama ran a successful presidential campaign built around "very high rhetoric, hope and change." "Are you disappointed in how it's gone?" asked the Comedy Central satirist.

Obama seemed to suggest that he wasn't disappointed. He said his advisers had told him during the euphoria of his 2008 election to "enjoy this now because two years from now folks are going to be frustrated. That is, in fact, what's happening."

Girding for the campaign's homestretch, Obama is quietly using the powers of his office to fire up a reeling Democratic Party.

Though Obama is off the campaign trail for three full days this week, he's personally targeting key Democratic constituencies from the White House, holding conference calls with union activists and campaign volunteers, and doing interviews with radio stations that draw largely black audiences. Many of these campaign events for the midterm elections are not publicized by the White House.

The president will wrap up the week with a campaign swing through five states where Democratic candidates are locked in tight contests.

It's a homestretch strategy based on how the White House believes the president can be most effective in an election in which his name is not on the ballot but his agenda is up for debate. According to a recent Associated Press-GfK poll, nearly half of likely voters say their votes for the House are intended to send a message about Obama.

White House officials say that while they still see value in the large rallies Obama has been holding across the country this month, they also recognize that with just six days until the election, many voters have already made up their minds.

Meanwhile, Obama has improved his standing among voters, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll, and Democrats have started to energize their base, but it might be too little and too late. The national survey found that Obama's weeks of campaigning across the country have paid off with higher approval ratings, particularly among independents and the young and in the Northeast.