We The People Politics

So what is this I hear about Obama not being funny?

In the past minutes alone, I have read articles- from the Times, The New Republic, etc., all fairly liberal publications, that Obama is either not funny enough, or is hard to mock - which, barring some major slip-up, may not be such a bad thing. 

Maureen Dowd, in her column yesterday, mentioned this very topic, and had some typical responses by my two favorite “political analysts” - Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert:

“It seems like a President Obama would be harder to make fun of than these guys,” I said.”Are you kidding me?” Stewart scoffed. Then he and Colbert both said at the same time: “His dad was a goat-herder!” When I noted that Obama, in his memoir, had revealed that he had done some pot, booze and “maybe a little blow,” the two comedians began riffing about the dapper senator’s familiarity with drug slang.

Colbert: Wow, that’s a very street way of putting it. ‘A little blow.’

Stewart: A little bit of the white rabbit.

Colbert: ‘Yeah, I packed a cocktail straw of cocaine and had a prostitute blow it in my ear, but that is all I did. High-fivin.”

With just a little research and effort, mocking Obama may not be such a difficult task, and in the world of political commentary, we mock you when we love you…unless, of course, your last name happens to be Bush… or you had oral relations with an intern in the oval office… or claim to have invented the internet… or be married to the ketchup lady,… or be 71 years old, vying for the highest office in the land, and you call your wife a “trollop.”

Obama, of course, is certainly not without a sense of humor himself.  When asked about his marijuana use, he openly said that yes, he did smoke marijuana.  “Did you inhale?” Obama’s response: “Well, that was the point….”

We caught glimpses of Obama’s humor in debates early on, as primary season was in high swing, but now we are seeing a more serious side of Obama. His satirical portrayal on the cover of the New Yorker, for example, brought condemnation from his campaign. His attitude is becoming more serious as the election draws near, with less room in his campaign for humor.  When should we stop poking fun at our leadership?

Frankly, history shows us that poking fun at politicians is as American as a pastime as Baseball, Barbeques, and invading sovereign nations overseas. Political cartoons in America go as far back as the 1720’s with William Hogarth, and media since that time has always found ways to poke a bit of fun at our commander-in-chief.  Even the leaders we like are subject to the scrutiny of the laughing public; Lincoln was teased about his beard - and he is consistently ranked one of our greatest presidents.

But then again, if we look at some of our past presidents, the question is not “why should we…;” the question is “How did we miss that?” Our presidents have left a legacy of gaffes and blunders to supply any humorist with sufficient material. Taft was so fat (332 pounds!) he got stuck in his bathtub, and had to have a bigger one installed. Warren G. Harding gambled away all the White House china - on one hand.  This stuff is comedic gold.

Our leaders have also had good senses of humor.  Thomas Jefferson said “Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper,” and Benjamin Franklin had a myriad of great one-liners in his day.

With these two premises in mind - that both our public and our leadership have a history of being either the banana peel or the guy on his ass - I think it is perfectly clear that people are funny creatures, regardless of the responsibility placed on them. Mocking either our public or our leadership helps people see our serious issues in a different light, and helps keep American morale up.

So keep it up, you satirists and humorists, cartoonists and comedians…you do your country a great service.