Obama won because nonpolitical folks felt what harm could it do if they broke the race barrier and elected the blackish guy.
They paid no attention to his racist leftists incapable past and elected a teleprompter reading nitwit.
However, his "cool" extends far beyond the show. Most people get his bits via the internet. These are abbreviated, deceptive takes on Republican/conservative "hypocrisies" that somehow Stewart's crack Ivy League staff are always putting together.
This guy gets a lot of his stuff from Huffpo, via Soros and Media Matters. He is significant, and will be significant in 2012.