Is Obama Becoming a Joke?
By David Paul Kuhn

Most presidents become a joke at some point. It's a matter of when and
how. Both points should concern this president. In Winston Churchill's
words, "a joke is a very serious thing." Or it can be, when the joke
is about a very serious thing.

"Saturday Night Live" has long been a comedic benchmark. Last weekend,
SNL took its first hard hit at President Obama. Fred Armisen, who
plays the president, gave an Oval Office address questioning why some
critics were distraught with him transforming the country: "When you
look at my record it's very clear what I've done so far and that is
nothing. Nada. Almost one year and nothing to show for it."

Political satire matters when it is larger than the joke. The growing
rap on Obama is that he is a man both ineffective and meek; a man who
is loved by all and feared by none.

Bill Maher hit the punch line first in mid-June: "You don't have to be
on television every minute of every day. You're the president, not a
rerun of 'Law & Order'... TV stars are too worried about being popular
and too concerned about being renewed."

Soon Maher came to his key point: "You're skinny and in a hurry and in
love with a nice lady, but so is Lindsay Lohan. And just like Lindsay,
we see your name in the paper a lot but we're kind of wondering when
you're actually going to do something."


Jon Stewart has been in on the joke all week. On Monday, Stewart hit
Obama for "appeasing" the health care and energy industries. On
Tuesday, Stewart showed clips of Obama's repeated campaign promises to
allow gays to serve openly in the military.

Stewart to Obama: "I know you have a lot on your desk plate. But as a
thin man who smokes, you may not understand the concept. All that
stuff you've been putting on your plate, it's f-cking chow time,
brother. That's how you get things off of your plate. "


The Olympics only helped reinforce the punch line. The president went
to Copenhagen to rally for his hometown. Analysts assumed that the
White House was in on a secret. The president could tip the vote? But
Chicago lost on the first round. The president looked powerless.


Many Sunday political shows touched on Obama's Olympic failure. Was it
a metaphor? On ABC's "This Week," George Will said yes. He listed
Obama's big initiatives abroad and the absence of progress. "Saying no
to the president is a habit," Will argued. "The world adores him and
ignores him." The digs came from all sides. But SNL brought the point
home.

Smart administrations take jokes seriously. By the spring of 1982,
Ronald Reagan's staff was concerned by a running joke. A new comedy
record was popular, portraying Reagan as the amicable dunce.

Satire helped undermine both Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. And as
Reagan's pollster, Richard Wirthlin, put it then: "the danger" of
political satire "arises when the humor portrays the president as
silly or impotent or portrays what he's trying to do as irrelevant--
when it attacks some of the basic elements of his leadership."

Mocking the powerful is as old as Ben Franklin. A JFK impersonator won
a Grammy in 1963 for satirizing the Kennedys. By the late 1970s, SNL
became political satire's defining institution.

Chevy Chase made Gerald Ford a klutz. Dana Carvey parodied George Bush
as the wimpy, "wouldn't be prudent" president. Phil Hartman nailed
Clinton as the fast food president in his McDonalds skit, cheapening
Clinton as a man after the easy pleasures. Just last year, Tina Fey
devastated Sarah Palin as a silly, high school cheerleading airhead.

It was supposed to be hard to joke about Obama. White liberal comics
were afraid to touch on race. Obama came to office in serious times.
But it was also Obama's image. He ran on a lofty persona unlike any
candidate since Reagan. But in the case of Obama, the liberal pop
culture was buying and selling it. Obama was to bring, "change, we can
believe in."

But the change maker has not made change--at least not on the hard
fights, not yet. Hillary Clinton once asked why Obama "can't close the
deal." Her dig is now a punch line. And most people get the joke,
except CNN.


This week CNN actually ran a segment fact checking the Obama SNL skit.
Bush and Palin may have wondered why CNN never came to their defense.
But then, where's the humor in that?

As Garry Trudeau, of "Doonesbury" fame, told one reporter, "For
something to be funny, the audience has to be in a position to sense
the truth of it." And SNL's lampoon of Obama was funny.

On Oct 8, 10:49*am, Jack wrote:
Is Obama Becoming a Joke?
By David Paul Kuhn

Most presidents become a joke at some point. It's a matter of when and
how. Both points should concern this president. In Winston Churchill's
words, "a joke is a very serious thing." Or it can be, when the joke
is about a very serious thing.

"Saturday Night Live" has long been a comedic benchmark.

chuckle don'tcha love the right wing. they're so desperate they're
pinning their hopes to 'saturday night live'...



Political satire matters when it is larger than the joke. The growing
rap on Obama is that he is a man both ineffective and meek; a man who
is loved by all and feared by none.

of course, he could be murderously incompetent like his GOP
predecessor, who got us into 2 wars and bankrupted the economy...



The Olympics only helped reinforce the punch line.

now let's see...we have 2 wars...a trashed economy...iran with
nukes...n. korea with nukes...all courtesy of the right wing

and what are they complaining about? SNL and the olympics?

ever get the idea the GOP has no adult supervision?


As Garry Trudeau, of "Doonesbury" fame, told one reporter, "For
something to be funny, the audience has to be in a position to sense
the truth of it." And SNL's lampoon of Obama was funny.


and the GOP is too tragic to be funny. it has a larger negative than
positive rating...and will for years to come.

"wf3h" wrote in message
...
On Oct 8, 10:49 am, Jack wrote:
Is Obama Becoming a Joke?
By David Paul Kuhn

Most presidents become a joke at some point. It's a matter of when and
how. Both points should concern this president. In Winston Churchill's
words, "a joke is a very serious thing." Or it can be, when the joke
is about a very serious thing.

"Saturday Night Live" has long been a comedic benchmark.

chuckle don'tcha love the right wing. they're so desperate they're
pinning their hopes to 'saturday night live'...


Hey! Look what it did for Tina Fey, I mean Sarah Palin. snerky

--
Nom=de=Plume

"Jack" wrote in message
...
Is Obama Becoming a Joke?
By David Paul Kuhn

Most presidents become a joke at some point. It's a matter of when and
how. Both points should concern this president. In Winston Churchill's
words, "a joke is a very serious thing." Or it can be, when the joke
is about a very serious thing.

"Saturday Night Live" has long been a comedic benchmark. Last weekend,
SNL took its first hard hit at President Obama. Fred Armisen, who
plays the president, gave an Oval Office address questioning why some
critics were distraught with him transforming the country: "When you
look at my record it's very clear what I've done so far and that is
nothing. Nada. Almost one year and nothing to show for it."

Political satire matters when it is larger than the joke. The growing
rap on Obama is that he is a man both ineffective and meek; a man who
is loved by all and feared by none.

Bill Maher hit the punch line first in mid-June: "You don't have to be
on television every minute of every day. You're the president, not a
rerun of 'Law & Order'... TV stars are too worried about being popular
and too concerned about being renewed."

Soon Maher came to his key point: "You're skinny and in a hurry and in
love with a nice lady, but so is Lindsay Lohan. And just like Lindsay,
we see your name in the paper a lot but we're kind of wondering when
you're actually going to do something."


Jon Stewart has been in on the joke all week. On Monday, Stewart hit
Obama for "appeasing" the health care and energy industries. On
Tuesday, Stewart showed clips of Obama's repeated campaign promises to
allow gays to serve openly in the military.

Stewart to Obama: "I know you have a lot on your desk plate. But as a
thin man who smokes, you may not understand the concept. All that
stuff you've been putting on your plate, it's f-cking chow time,
brother. That's how you get things off of your plate. "


The Olympics only helped reinforce the punch line. The president went
to Copenhagen to rally for his hometown. Analysts assumed that the
White House was in on a secret. The president could tip the vote? But
Chicago lost on the first round. The president looked powerless.


Many Sunday political shows touched on Obama's Olympic failure. Was it
a metaphor? On ABC's "This Week," George Will said yes. He listed
Obama's big initiatives abroad and the absence of progress. "Saying no
to the president is a habit," Will argued. "The world adores him and
ignores him." The digs came from all sides. But SNL brought the point
home.

Smart administrations take jokes seriously. By the spring of 1982,
Ronald Reagan's staff was concerned by a running joke. A new comedy
record was popular, portraying Reagan as the amicable dunce.

Satire helped undermine both Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. And as
Reagan's pollster, Richard Wirthlin, put it then: "the danger" of
political satire "arises when the humor portrays the president as
silly or impotent or portrays what he's trying to do as irrelevant--
when it attacks some of the basic elements of his leadership."

Mocking the powerful is as old as Ben Franklin. A JFK impersonator won
a Grammy in 1963 for satirizing the Kennedys. By the late 1970s, SNL
became political satire's defining institution.

Chevy Chase made Gerald Ford a klutz. Dana Carvey parodied George Bush
as the wimpy, "wouldn't be prudent" president. Phil Hartman nailed
Clinton as the fast food president in his McDonalds skit, cheapening
Clinton as a man after the easy pleasures. Just last year, Tina Fey
devastated Sarah Palin as a silly, high school cheerleading airhead.

It was supposed to be hard to joke about Obama. White liberal comics
were afraid to touch on race. Obama came to office in serious times.
But it was also Obama's image. He ran on a lofty persona unlike any
candidate since Reagan. But in the case of Obama, the liberal pop
culture was buying and selling it. Obama was to bring, "change, we can
believe in."

But the change maker has not made change--at least not on the hard
fights, not yet. Hillary Clinton once asked why Obama "can't close the
deal." Her dig is now a punch line. And most people get the joke,
except CNN.


This week CNN actually ran a segment fact checking the Obama SNL skit.
Bush and Palin may have wondered why CNN never came to their defense.
But then, where's the humor in that?

As Garry Trudeau, of "Doonesbury" fame, told one reporter, "For
something to be funny, the audience has to be in a position to sense
the truth of it." And SNL's lampoon of Obama was funny.


Did satire help underine GWB? I don't think he needed any help with that.

Nothing wrong with comedy... from those sources you mention, it's totally
appropriate and very funny. Also, there's a lot of truth there. I believe
Jon Stewart is the "most trusted" man on the air right now.

--
Nom=de=Plume