It's No Joke

The International Herald Tribune posted a story about how no one jokes about Barack Obama that I thought was worth passing along.  Excerpts:

What's so funny about Barack Obama? Apparently not very much, at least not yet.

On Monday, The New Yorker magazine tried dipping its toe into broad satire involving Senator Obama with a cover image depicting the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and his wife, Michelle, as fist-bumping, flag-burning, bin Laden-loving terrorists in the Oval Office. The response from both Democrats and Republicans was explosive.

Comedy has been no easier for the phalanx of late-night television hosts who depend on skewering political leaders for a healthy quotient of their nightly monologues. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president — each one a variant on the same theme: John McCain is old.

But there has been little humor about Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique. And within a late-night landscape dominated by white hosts, white writers, and overwhelmingly white audiences, there has been almost none about his race.

"We're doing jokes about people in his orbit, not really about him," said Mike Sweeney, the head writer for O'Brien on "Late Night." The jokes will come, representatives of the late-night shows said, when Obama does or says something that defines him — in comedy terms.

Why? The reason cited by most of those involved in the shows is that a fundamental factor is so far missing in Obama: There is no comedic "take" on him, nothing easy to turn to for an easy laugh, like allegations of Bill Clinton's womanizing, or President George W. Bush's goofy bumbling or Al Gore's robotic persona.

One issue that clearly has some impact on writing jokes about Obama is a consistency among the big late-night shows. Not only are all the hosts white, the vast majority of their audiences are white. "I think white audiences get a little self-conscious if race comes up," Sweeney of O'Brien's show said.

Things might be somewhat different if even one late-night host was black.

The overall thrust of this piece seems to be simply pointing out that it's tough to crack jokes at Obama.  I think there are some other points that need to be made, which are illustrated very well by this article.  First, don't be surprised if there are some calls for more black late-night hosts.  Doesn't matter if they're good or not; the fact that they're all white means its 'unfair'.  Second, this seems to be a great example of reverse racism - apparently, only blacks can make fun of blacks, but anyone (black or white) can make fun of whites.  Personally, I think that's a crock, and yet another example of how the only real racism left in this country is actually on the Left and in the black community itself.  Third, I think there is a single very good reason that no one jokes about Obama: he won't allow it.  The best humor has a grain of truth in it, but everything that could conceivably be poked at humorously has been declared off-limits by Barack Obama himself, and the MSM is willingly falling in line.  I've blogged before on all the things that we are not allowed to talk about: his ears, his middle name, his religion, his pastor, his terrorist friends, his Muslim family members, his bitter wife, his bazillion gaffes on the campaign trail, and more.  The list covers just about everything about him.  If no one is allowed to talk about him (other than to shower him with praise, of course), then no one is going to be able to joke about him, either.

As I've watched Barack Obama over the past few months, I began having this nagging feeling that I've seen his behavior somewhere before.  A few days ago, it hit me: he acts like a 5-year old child.  Seriously, stop and think about it.  Five year olds are cute and fun to watch, and usually filled with imagination.  Barack Obama cuts a dashing, polished figure (remember, he's 'articulate' and 'clean'), and he is certainly very creative (one might argue he's totally lost touch with anything resembling reality) when it comes to dealing with things like terrorism, the economy, or the Middle East.  Apparently, he doesn't feel the need to have a plan to do anything, but that simply his being elected will resolve all of the world's problems.  What imagination!  And, perhaps most similarly to a 5-year old, whenever someone says something that Barack Obama doesn't like, he stamps his foot and screams his displeasure with the single goal of shutting them up and getting his way.  He has thrown the same little tantrum for months on any number of issues.  If you think about it, you'll realize I'm right.

This behavior can be seen especially when someone has the gall to point out that he flip-flopped for expediency's sake, and there is no shortage of flip-flops available to look at.  For example, The Daily Voice posts a list of the Top 10 Obama flip-flops:

1. SPECIAL INTERESTS. In January, the Obama campaign described union contributions to the campaigns of Clinton and John Edwards as "special interest" money. Obama changed his tune as he began gathering his own union endorsements. He now refers respectfully to unions as the representatives of "working people" and says he is "thrilled" by their support.

2. THE CUBA EMBARGO. In January 2004, Obama said it was time "to end the embargo with Cuba" because it had "utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro." Speaking to a Cuban American audience in Miami in August 2007, he said he would not "take off the embargo" as president because it is "an important inducement for change."

3. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. In a March 2004 questionnaire, Obama was asked if the government should "crack down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants." He replied "Oppose." In a Jan. 31, 2008, televised debate, he said that "we do have to crack down on those employers that are taking advantage of the situation."

4. DECRIMINALIZATION OF MARAJUANA. While running for the U.S. Senate in January 2004, Obama told Illinois college students that he supported eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana use. In the Oct. 30, 2007, presidential debate, he joined other Democratic candidates in opposing the decriminalization of marijuana.

5. NAFTA. During the primary season, Obama hammered Hillary Clinton for her support of NAFTA as First Lady, calling the free trade agreement "devastating" and "a big mistake." Now, in an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine's upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee said that NAFTA has indeed been positive for the US in some ways, and that his earlier criticism - while trying to convince white blue collar voters in some states to vote for him - was 'overheated and amplified.'

6. THE DEATH PENALTY. Ten years ago, when Obama was running for statewide office in an ultra-liberal Chicago district, he opposed the death penalty. As Obama announced this week, he now supports the ultimate penalty.

7. HANDGUN BAN. For 8 years--before becoming a US Senator--Obama sat on the board of a non-profit which contributed $2.7 million to efforts advocating for a complete ban on handguns. (Before that, Obama filled out a questionnaire in 1996 stating that he supported a ban on the manufacture, sale AND POSSESSION of handguns.) But starting with his primary campaign in the gun popular Midwest, Obama now opposes such legislation, and claims to support gun owner's rights.

8. PROPOSED FISA LAW IMMUNITY FOR TELECOMS. In October, 2007, Obama pledged that if the FISA bill contained an immunity provision for telecoms, he would not only oppose the bill, he would help block it through a filibuster. This week, he voted for the bill, telecom immunity provisions and all.

9. PUBLIC FINANCING FOR OBAMA'S GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN. In November, 2007, Obama issued a written pledge to opt into the public campaign finance system for the general presidential election, if the Republican nominee also did so. John McCain immediately accepted the pledge, which acceptance Obama acknowledged in writing in November 2007. After he became the Republican nominee, McCain opted into the public finance system (as he pledged to do), but Obama broke his pledge and opted out.

10. THE WAR IN IRAQ. In 2004--when Obama was running for the United States Senate-- Barack Obama not only said that he was open to a U.S. troop increase in Iraq, but warned against a premature troop withdrawal as a "slap in the face to the troops fighting there" which could make Iraq "an extraordinary hotbed of terrorist activity." Fast forward to Obama's presidential campaign premised in large part on an immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

[Side note: the only issues that I can find where he has been 100% consistent are abortion and taxes.  He is always in favor of abortion, and he is always in favor of raising taxes.  What a winner.]

And yet, we're all supposed to ignore the fact that he flip-flopped and simply go on our merry way, singing the praises of the great Obamessiah as he continues to imagine his way into the most powerful job in the world.  This habit of such a childish reaction goes hand in hand with his naivete, both of which would be disastrous in the White House.

Finally, Rush Limbaugh made a brilliant observation in regard to the 'outrage' that the Obama campaign is currently putting out at the recent satirical New Yorker cover, which was supposed to be humorous (and was actually supposed to make fun of the ignorant conservatives who think he's a Muslim): who is it that always goes into a blind rage because of cartoons?

Muslims.

Hmmm...

There's my two cents.