wp_insert_comment error. puzzled by date value

I am trying to programmatically insert comments in a bulk operation as part of migration routine.
Comments are in a SQL server table.

I receive the date info from the SQL server table field and store it in a PHP variable like the following way;

    while( $row = sqlsrv_fetch_array( $RS, SQLSRV_FETCH_ASSOC))
    {
                   ...
        $the_date = $row['the_date'];
        ...
    }   

var_dump view of the $the_date is as follows;

object(DateTime)#97 (3) {
  ["date"]=>
  string(19) "2012-07-30 00:00:00"
  ["timezone_type"]=>
  int(3)
  ["timezone"]=>
  string(3) "UTC"
}

then I prep my wp_insert_comment’s data array.
var_dump view of that data array as follows;

array(7) {
  ["comment_post_ID"]=>
  string(5) "73615"
  ["comment_author"]=>
  string(14) "Joe  (USA)"
  ["comment_author_email"]=>
  string(20) "user@domain.com"
  ["comment_content"]=>
  string(2001) "commment text here"
  ["comment_parent"]=>
  int(0)
  ["comment_date"]=>
  object(DateTime)#97 (3) {
    ["date"]=>
    string(19) "2012-07-30 00:00:00"
    ["timezone_type"]=>
    int(3)
    ["timezone"]=>
    string(3) "UTC"
  }
  ["comment_approved"]=>
  int(1)
}

After the wp_insert_comment operation, I get a 0 in return – indicating an error.

And the following message stops the whole process.

Warning: preg_match() expects parameter 2 to be string, object given in F:inetpub....wp-includesformatting.php on line 1868

Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Exception' with message 'DateTime::__construct() expects parameter 1 to be string, object given' in F:inetpub....wp-includesformatting.php:1872 Stack trace: #0 F:inetpub....wp-includesformatting.php(1872): DateTime->__construct(Object(DateTime)) #1 F:inetpub....wp-includescomment.php(1238): get_gmt_from_date(Object(DateTime)) #2 F:inetpub...comments.php(259): wp_insert_comment(Array) #3 F:inetpub...comments.php(100): HandleComments(Resource id #25, '73615', 'services.articl...', 'XYZ1207-5206') #4 {main} thrown in F:inetpub....wp-includesformatting.php on line 1872

How can I go around this problem and store the date properly? 2012-07-30 00:00:00