A blogger friend emailed me his post about comedians jumping out the window (it was satire, I'm pretty sure) in the wake of Obama's victory. Somehow, I don't think so -- from what I can see the comedio-industrial complex is already figuring how how to adjust. Jon Stewart even made a Bill Ayers joke the other night, and remember that you don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.
The perceived problem was that Obama himself had no sense of humor. Well, now he has his first press conference where he doesn't have to worry about losing an election with a slip of the tongue, and apparently he has a sense of humor after all. And it's lame! In a matter of minutes, he said his daughters' new puppy should be "a mutt like me" -- warming the hearts of mixed-race people everywhere (or was that a joke about his ears?) Then when he was asked if he's talked to all the living presidents:
"I have spoken to all of them who are living," he says. "I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any séances," he says.
Ronald Reagan just spoke to me from the Great Beyond, Mr. President-elect, and he said that "facts are stubborn things." (Although he may have said "stupid things," he was fading in and out.) Anyway, Nancy Reagan (also not a good person to make fun of in your first press conference) consulted an astrologer -- weird, maybe, but not the same thing as a seance. Most newspapers have a horoscope page, while very few of them have pages of Communications With the Dead.
I think the only thing comedians have to fear...is fear itself.
UPDATE: Obama calls Nancy Reagan with the first apology of his administration. Given that it's only taken three days, it probably won't be the last. Oy. Also, I totally forgot about Hillary's coversations with Eleanor Roosevelt. Heh.
Programming note: It was an out-of-pocket day, followed by a Daily News city desk night, so talk amongst yourselves.
Actually I think the "mutt" joke is good for two reasons: 1) it is good to have a President who can poke fun at himself and not be oh-so-serious; it is a humanizing touch that is sorely needed 2) if we are actually going to move to a post-racial attitude then that has to include humor, and get past the "professionally offended" political-correctness industry. (By the way, my own ethnic background is one that has often been the subject of jokes, so I know what is is like - and I find it silly to be offended.)— what is truth?
Comment removed.- Yeah, I think in the end the joke works because he's telling it on himself -- although I guarantee a) he would not have made that joke before Nov. 4 and b) someone out there is offended by it.— will
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- Keep whining neo-cons. You only have another four years, less three days, until Obama is re-elected in 2012.— AHiredGun
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Joe B. hasn't even emerged yet. Oh yeah, the next four years have the potential to be pretty darn entertaining.— ocjones- Comment removed.
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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