Obama Comedy…The Tip Of The Iceberg?
An almost shocking, interesting, and possibly pivotal moment happened late on Saturday night.
Saturday Night Live made fun of President Barack Obama.
Now, historically, SNL has been pretty bipartisan in its political attacks. From the days of Chevy Chase making the former University of Michigan Football All-American, President Gerald Ford, into a klutz…to the skits portraying George W. Bush as a sock puppet controlled by Dick Cheney, SNL has built a reputation for being hard on America’s politicians.
But not so in the last year. Last year’s election was noticeable in SNL’s lack of comedy about our current president. This is not unique to SNL. Jay Leno was very open about the difficulty in making fun of America’s first African-American President, and fear of being called prejudice if a joke went too far. That premonition has certainly come true, as virtually anyone that has stood up against our current leader has been called everything from simply prejudiced to a Nazi.
The biggest problem for Obama is not that he is being made fun of…frankly, that is part of the job. The problem is that when SNL makes fun of you, if the criticism is based in fact, then the message reverberates. That has always been true in the past. When Al Gore was made out to be an arrogant know-it-all…well, people responded because they felt it was true.
SNL attacking the lack of Obama achievements has a similar ring to it. There has been a lot of smoke, but no fire. Democrats point to the stimulus plan; but if a stimulus plan brings no improvement in employment numbers, was it is a success? Others point to the myriad of problems Obama was confronted with when he took office; but if you don’t do better than your much despised predecessor, is that a step forward? Sure, Obama was presented with two wars; but when you are repeating the old policy, is that success?
You don’t need polls to tell you that this may be Americas winter of discontent. Unemployment is sure to rise. The budget deficit is booming. Threats overseas appear to be increasing. Americans are uneasy about EVERYTHING. And Americans simply don’t have faith in their government any more; and that hasn’t changed with the inauguration of Barack Obama.
So SNL ran a little skit. So what. But the long term fear for this White House is that the SNL piece was just the tip of the iceberg.
Addressing racism in disagreement: Would it also be racist to disagree with a President if they were named JC Watts, Alan Keyes or Clarence Thomas? Would anyone be called Nazi for having issue with conservative issues? Somehow, I doubt it. This is part of why the ‘race card’ and ‘racism charge’ has been made irrelevant. We should expect honest disagreement and discussion and we should not ignore issues because of fear of offense due to skin tone.
Whoever said SNL was an intelligent show?…When John Belushi and Chevy Chase and Eddie Murphy were on yea…But it sucks so bad now…They are so desperate that they will do anything and put anyone on the Show that they think will get people to watch…But they know they suck…It must be tough to know that you all suck…
If a conservative wants to have an “honest disagreement they can have one when they are in front of their mirror. Conservatives are not interested in an “honest disagreement” It is not in the nature of any true conservative to be willing to see another persons view on any matter. Their self centered, arrogant, truly unintelligent look at life is truly under underwhelming. Which results in everyone involved with them underachieving, much to the conservatives delight. One politician recently refered to them as “knuckle dragging neanderthals”. Which if it was up to them is where we would all be, of course except for them.
And you, Michael, are the problem.
And you will note…I doubt there is even one republican on SNL…
There are no Republicans on SNL because it is a comedy show and Republicans are legendary for having no sense of humor. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and Eric Canter are ample evidence of that. Conservatives are, by definition, incapable of seeing any irony in their politics. And their strident adherence to ideology negates the open-mindedness that is essential to a sense of humor. When they laugh at a skit that makes fun of Obama, it’s not because they think the skit is funny. They laugh because they think the skit validates their thinking. They take pleasure in the derision. The live audiences which attend SNL tapings are generally liberal, yet they were able to laugh at the Obama skit because it was humorous, even it was critical of the President. Being a liberal requires a degree of sensitivity, empathy, compassion and self-doubt which cannot co-exist with an ideologically driven mindset.
http://johnrj08.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/its-time-to-outlaw-lobbyists-in-washington/
John being a liberal requires no rigor of any kind. Having feelings and being intelligent are two different things entirely. It is the convoluted illogic of the left that allows them to ‘make it up’ as they go along and call it reasoned.
Michael; did you read your own post before you submitted? You are all that you say is wrong with the other side.