My physical therapist doesn’t know that I dwell in the world of politics except when recovering from major surgery (and thanks, everyone, for your support and concern. More on that below…). At my last visit with him, he brought up politics. First, he bashed Fox News, and anyone who would watch “such trash”, claiming they make up news to suit their points, not report the news. I mentioned to him that Bret Baier routinely has someone from NPR on for the discussions at the end of his show (since he mentioned he likes NPR), and that Fox routinely has Democrats on. He said they were only the wimpy ones, though, not tough ones. Hmm. So, you know, they don’t count. Like the current head of the DCCC, Chris Van Hollen, I suppose. Okay. Whatever. Let’s find a way to not let facts influence our opinions. (I might add, before 2008, I had the same opinions about Fox, having never watched it. I believed the spiel from the DNC, Jon Stewart, MSNBC, and others. But they (Fox) were the only ones who treated Hillary Clinton with a modicum of respect, especially Greta Van Susteran, so I started giving them a chance. Turns out, they are not as horrible as the Democrats made them out to be.)

Meanwhile, my PT thinks MSNBC is just fine, naturally, and really only operates to counteract the vileness that is Fox. You know, they are performing a service, see, lest people fall under the spell of that horrible Fox machine. Misogynistic rhetoric by Keith Olbermann directed at Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Campaign was not something my PT noticed, but if there was anything, he suggested that I probably just noticed it since I am a woman. He couldn’t think of any instances in which he heard anything misogynistic from Olbermann at all.

I am not kidding. He said all of this with nary a thought that he could be making an ass of himself, or that he was being just a tad sexist his own self by minimizing my saying something was sexist because I’m a woman. (I wonder if a person of color says something is racist, does his/her saying so automatically mean they are just being too sensitive? Or is this something left more for us little ladies when we cry foul on sexism?)

That set the tone for what came next. The PT insisted that I was completely, flat out, absolutely, completely, couldn’t possibly be right, wrong when I said that that Obama stated there are 57 states, or that he said the Great Lakes are in Oregon, or that his parents were inspired to have him because of the March On Selma, even though that event occurred 4 years AFTER his birth, unless this information came solely from Fox News. You know how we women folk don’t really know nothing and all. Well, I quickly found him an article from the LA Times, “Barack Obama Wants To Be President of These 57 United States,” and asked if THAT was sufficient for him, even reading him this quote:

At a later stop Obama was talking with reporters and expressed concern he’d also mis-stated the number of potential cyclone victims in Burma. He said, “”I hope I said 100,000 people the first time instead of 100 million. I understand I said there were 57 states today. It’s a sign that my numeracy is getting a little, uh.” At that point, an aide cut him off and ushered journalists out. Before he could mis-speak again?)

I asked him if the LA Times would suffice. His response? He would have to look it up for himself. He is sitting there, seeing the LA Times masthead on my computer, but even that was not sufficient. Yeah, whatever, dude. Not only did he refuse to acknowledge any of the above instances of Obama misspeaking, but also blew off Obama’s claim that Hillary Clinton won Kentucky because it borders Arkansas, apparently, not understanding that Kentucky borders Illinois’ Southern border. His explanation? That for the people there, at least, it was a “psychological” closeness, so it made sense they would go for Hillary Clinton. Huh?? Wow. Oh, and I mentioned to him that the MSM did not do its job vetting Obama, that had Bush or ANYONE else, said these kinds of things, they would still be talking about them. Seems maybe MSNBC didn’t provide him with as much information as he thought it did (or Jon Stewart, whom he mentioned as one of the people from whom most young people get their news). Ahem.

And you know what his immediate response was to the litany of “mistakes” Obama made? One thing – Hillary and Bosnia. Right. Her exaggeration of one story is equivalent to all of the misstatements and flat out lies of Obama’s. Gotcha.

But here’s the thing – that example cam tripping right off his tongue, but he knew NOTHING about Obama’s gaffes and lies. That is telling in and of itself, isn’t it?

But that is just one guy. We know there are so many more who don’t notice the sexism because they are not women (according to my PT’s logic). For instance, how about California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown denying that a woman being called a whore is as bad as a racial slur? Not only did he deny it, he dismissed it out of hand. He sure does know how to win a woman over, doesn’t he?

I can make it a bit more local. Our SC Democratic nominee for the US Senate, Alvin Greene, was apparently just trying to flirt with a young woman when he showed her pornographic photos for which he has now been charged with a felony. At least that seems to be what his attorney was saying in this Washington Post article when the attorney said this:

“He was attempting to flirt with a young lady who had no interest in him,” Eleazer Carter told The Associated Press. “While the charges are very serious, I think it boils down to, when a lady turns you down, has it reached a criminal offense?”

That’s all it was, people – why is everyone making such a big deal out of it? Sheesh, c’mon, already – you little women need to stop being so sensitive.

Which is apparently what the California chapter of N.O.W. thinks in terms of calling women derogatory names. Yep – turns out they think it is A-Okay. You know what I mean – the Jerry Brown “hey, baby, being called a whore ain’t such a bad thing,” from the recent debate with gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. WTH??? Add to that Alvin Greene’s “just flirting” assertion, and I just had to share this recent experience. Holy Moley.

And speaking of physical therapy. I am still pretty busy with my daily regimen of physical therapy and dealing with high levels of pain (so, um, that’s my excuse if there are any typos or anything. The PT did say this is what happens when your bone and muscle are cut. It hurts, like being hit with a police baton right on the tibia over and over 24/7 for 6 – 8 weeks. Yep, sounds about right.). I have missed our conversations, but also haven’t been in a place where I can give the time I would like to fully engage. So, thank you again, everyone, for your thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to me. I am working up to writing more regularly, I promise.

I might add, after the big 18 minute speech, we can also add Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Howard Fineman to the list of people whose Obama-fog is being lifted. That’s quite a trifecta, and in large part due to the Obama speech about how we would deal with this devastating oil spill, all 18 minutes, which apparently lacked specificity. Just ask Olbermann. Wow, who even knew this was possible?

But to be fair, Stewart’s rehab back into the Reality-based community started earlier than the MSNBC Trifecta, not waiting for the speechifying of the Flawed Analogy Maker in Chief. At least from what I have seen in clips. But when I saw this on Tuesday night, I admit, I was stunned:

Holy moley – it’s as if this BP spill has finally broken through all of the Kool Aide induced amnesia, and some folks are finally starting to put together the pieces like we did during the primaries. Though Stewart missed one – that Obama as president also supports spying on American citizens. But other than that, it was as if Stewart finally decided to look at all of the things we had been screaming about in 2008 and 2009. Of course, he had to have the obligatory dig at Sarah Palin. We can’t have it all be about how hoodwinked the Obots were by Obama or else their heads might explode, so Stewart used the favorite punching bag of the Democrats, Sarah Palin, as a way to reduce tension in their brains. Whatever. Maybe he’ll get over that someday.

It should be interesting to see how Stewart responds to Obama’s Big Gulf Oil speech on Wednesday night’s show. If Tuesday night is any indication, Stewart may have finally gotten it. Perhaps he’ll report on the Safety Award the Obama Administration gave to the Deepwater Horizon, even though the Bush Administration gave it citations, or the lack of federal inspections, or that Obama only has 20 minutes scheduled for his big meeting with the BP Oil Execs (and, WTH with that??), or even why in the world Obama is still kowtowing to the unions and not waiving the Jones Act so other countries can come HELP US with this spill? Will more members of the MSM start to put these all together, or just leave it to a few sites while they continue to protect the Obama Presidency (how’s that working out for you now, Chris Matthews?)? Time will tell, and soon enough…

So, thanks, Larry, for helping me to go back to “The Daily Show.” Maybe there is some hope after all, you think?

The other night, Stewart went after Olbermann for his baseless attacks on Scott Brown, the new US Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (see, I know how to spell it, even without spell-check! Ahem.). It was absolutely priceless, and is continued within Olbermann’s response to Stewart below:

Yeah, I think there is one person who was funny in that clip, and it sure wasn’t Olbermann.

Stewart gave Olbermann a couple of points, but when someone uses as a reference a video clip (a Brown rally) that has been discredited, yet still insists on making the point with no context (that what was shouted off camera related to a case on which Coakley worked), it is demonstrative of some of the hoops Olbermann will jump through to attack someone. It is disingenuous at best, but that is what we have come to expect from Olbermann. Bluster, innuendo, and attacks based on the thinnest of inferences. I mean, really, for Olbermann, of all people, to attack ANYONE else for being sexist, is just, well, laughable. Go back to the 2008 Primary campaign on just about any night, but this one in particular is pretty indicative:

Olbermann was discussing the election with Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, a frequent guest. They topic was, how can a winner finally be determined in this never-ending Democratic race for the nomination? Of course, the assumption was that it was Clinton that should be shown the door (despite clearly still earning her spot in the race thanks to, um, voters). Fineman said that, all the delegate math aside, ultimately it was going to take “some adults somewhere in the Democratic party to step in and stop this thing, like a referee in a fight that could go on for thirty rounds. Those are the super, super, super delegates who are going to have to decide this.”

Said Olbermann: “Right. Somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out.”

Now, WHO’S sexist, exactly, Keith? Yeah, uh huh – I’ll give you a hint. It ain’t Scott Brown.

And since Jon Stewart mentioned John Edwards, I just had to see what he said about him. Here it is – a newsflash for “idiots”:

Well, I certainly cannot disagree with Stewart’s assessment of those who did NOT know this child really was Edwards, all protests aside.

Yep, I may just have to start watching The Daily Show again if he keeps going this way. I guess people really ARE starting to wake up! And about damn time, too…

Thoughts?

“Who’s the best executive branch rodeo clown?”

“Don’t be the crook if you can’t handle the schnook.”

Click for video.

Obama does indeed have a lot on his plate. According to the White House, Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest. Obama is so concerned with domestic issues, that he had little time for foreign matters. (so, does that mean he can’t walk, and chew gum at the same time?)

“Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.”

“Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president’s surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.”

“The one real serious flaw I see in Barack Obama is that he thinks he can manage all this,” the well-known figure told a Washington official, who spoke to this newspaper. “He’s underestimating the flood of things that will hit his desk.” A Democratic strategist, who is friends with several senior White House aides, revealed that the president has regularly appeared worn out and drawn during evening work sessions with senior staff in the West Wing and has been forced to make decisions more quickly than he is comfortable.”

“People say he looks tired more often than they’re used to,” the strategist said. “He’s still calm, but there have been flashes of irritation when he thinks he’s being pushed to make a decision sooner than he wants to make it. He looks like he needs a cigarette.”

Hillary, after Obama complained how tough their abc news debate had been, tried to warn him (and the voters) about the pressures of the job.

“Having been inside the White House, I know the pressures inside the White House, I know how hard it is every single day,” Clinton said. “When the going gets tough you can’t run away. Being asked tough questions in a debate is nothing like the pressures you face inside the White House.”

Heck, even George Bush said, “…that Sen. Hillary Clinton’s experience as first lady has prepared her to handle the “pressure” of a presidential race and the White House.” “No question, there is no question that Sen. Clinton understands pressure better than any of the candidates, you know, in the race,” the president said at an interview with ABC News

“When the going gets tough you can’t run away. And it’s going to be tough going to deal with these hard problems; getting out of Iraq in the right way, turning the economy around, getting universal health care, ending our dependence on foreign oil. The special interests are going to be a lot tougher than 90 minutes of questions from two journalists and we need a president who is going to be up there fighting everyday for the American people and not complain about how much pressure there is, and how hard the questions are.”

I think we all remember how Obama responded to Hillary.

Perhaps he should have spent a little more time thinking about what she said, and about all the pressures of the White House, instead of acting so flippant and juvenile?

This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone though. Obama was already showing his fatigue back in May 2007. It wasn’t much later that reports were surfacing that Obama was bored.

“There are going to be times when I get tired,” he told the crowd. “There are going to be times when I get weary. There are going to be times when I make mistakes.” The admission on Tuesday night was refreshingly honest. But it has fuelled fears among Obama supporters that the man hailed as a new John F Kennedy might not have the stamina needed to survive a campaign of unprecedented intensity.

Aides to Mrs Clinton believe that they might have identified Mr Obama’s Achilles heel and that he will make more serious mistakes as the pressure builds. “Hillary has enormous self-discipline,” said a Democratic official who supports the New York senator.

“She has been through nasty, gruelling national campaigns with Bill and she has a laser-like focus. It’s all very well being the candidate of hope and a fresh face but you have to be able to perform day in, day out and deliver – not just during the campaign but in the White House. Obama has never had a really tough election race in his life. He’s cruised into the Senate and it’s becoming apparent he might not have what it takes for the big time. Let’s face it, running at age 45 was always going to be a risk.”

Perhaps Obama can get some suggestions from McCain, about how to maintain a grueling schedule, and not be over come by exhaustion?

One suggestion might be to cut out all the late night (taxpayer funded) partying.

Jon also pokes fun at Hillary’s *reset* mishap. (Why is it so hard to translate something…don’t we have any Russian spies on hand?)

Granted, the mistake was the difference of two letters – *za*, but it was still a (news making) mistake. (did anyone notice this got a lot more MSM coverage than the DVD debacle?) Fortunately, Hillary is funny, and witty, and able to make fun of the situation. She handled herself like a pro.

Some of us have been warning that it was not healthy for the U.S. media to have deified rather than questioned Obama, especially given that they tore apart Bush, ridiculed Palin, and caricatured Hillary. And now we can see the results of their two years of advocacy rather than scrutiny.

We are quite literally after two weeks teetering on an Obama implosion—and with no Dick Morris to bail him out—brought on by messianic delusions of grandeur, hubris, and a strange naivete that soaring rhetoric and a multiracial profile can add requisite cover to good old-fashioned Chicago politicking.

Well, I sure cannot disagree with him there. It is really astonishing to me the lengths to which people have gone to convince themselves that Obama was not a part of Chicago-style politics, all evidence to the contrary. I know, I know – that was one of just many things about which they turned a blind eye and deaf ear, but it is a big jumping off point.

Hanson continues with his review of Obama in the White House:

First, there were the sermons on ethics, belied by the appointments of tax dodgers, crass lobbyists, and wheeler-dealers like Richardson—with the relish of the Blago tapes still to come. (And why does Richardson/Daschle go, but not Geithner?).

Second, was the “stimulus” (the euphemism for “borrow/print money”) that was simply a way to go into debt for a generation to shower Democratic constituencies with cash.

Then third, there were the inflated lectures on historic foreign policy to be made by the clumsy political novice who trashed his own country and his predecessor in the most ungracious manner overseas to a censored Saudi-run press organ (e.g., Bush is dictatorial, the Saudi king is courageous; Obama can mend bridges that America broke to aggrieved Muslims—apparently Tehran hostages, Rushdie, serial attacks in the 1990s, 9/11, Madrid, London never apparently occurred; and neither did feeding Somalis, saving Kuwait, protesting Chechnya, Bosnia/Kosovo, billions to Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians, help in two Afghan wars, and on and on).

Fourth, there was the campaign rhetoric of Bush shredding the Constitution—FISA, Guantánamo, the Patriot Act, Iraq, renditions, etc.—followed by “all that for now stays the same” inasmuch as we haven’t ben (sic) hit in over seven years and can’t risk another attack.

Remember when Obama reneged on his campaign promise to filibuster the FISA bill? Assuring his minions there was NO way he would ever vote for something so clearly un-Constitutional?? Oh, I do. He broke that promise with nary a “by your leave,” just a “yep, I did it! You’ll still vote for me, though, won’t you?!” Or something along those lines. One of my siblings, a big Obot, shrugged his shoulders and said he was “disappointed” by Obama voting for FISA. Uh, yeah, I get “disappointed” too when my country’s Constitution is being ripped to shreds by someone who got people to buy that he is a Constitutional “scholar.” Sure, Obama.

I digress:

Fifth, Gibbs as press secretary is a Scott McClellan nightmare that won’t go away, given his long McClellan-like relationship with Obama (McClellan should have been fired on day hour one on the job). Blaming Fox News for Obama’s calamities is McClellan to the core and doesn’t work. He already reminds me of Reverend Wright’s undoing at the National Press Club—and he will get worse.

Six, Biden is being Biden. Already, he’s ridiculed the chief justice, trashed the former VP, bragged on himself ad nauseam in Bidenesque weird ways, and it’s only been two weeks.

And the result of all this?

At home, Obama is becoming laughable and laying the groundwork for the greatest conservative populist reaction since the Reagan Revolution.

His claims of “CATASTROPHE!!!” if the Senate doesn’t give him all of our money for generations to come is pretty good evidence of that.
His lack of preparedness, experience, and knowledge of policy come into play, too:

Abroad, some really creepy people are lining up to test Obama’s world view of “Bush did it/but I am the world”: The North Koreans are readying their missiles; the Iranians are calling us passive, bragging on nukes and satellites; Russia is declaring missile defense is over and the Euros in real need of iffy Russian gas; Pakistanis say no more drone attacks (and then our friends the Indians say “shut up” about Kashmir and the Euros order no more “buy American”).

This is quite serious. I can’t recall a similarly disastrous start in a half-century (far worse than Bill Clinton’s initial slips). Obama immediately must lower the hope-and-change rhetoric, ignore Reid/Pelosi, drop the therapy, and accept the tragic view that the world abroad is not misunderstood but quite dangerous. And he must listen on foreign policy to his National Security Advisor, Billary, and the Secretary of Defense. If he doesn’t quit the messianic style and perpetual campaign mode, and begin humbly governing, then he will devolve into Carterism—angry that the once-fawning press betrayed him while we the people, due to our American malaise, are to blame.

Nice of Hanson to get a little slam of Hillary in there, too. Sheesh.

Anyway, yes, this whole messianic thing is just a bit of a problem. But what kind of Messiah is in constant need of ego-strokes and propping up? I speak, of course, of the “Great job, Barry!” campaign sponsored by Senators Durbin and Boxer to tell Obama that he is just doing a bang-up, job, he’s the best president ever, and this is the best two weeks any president has ever had – YAY!!! I am not kidding you. Ani, has all of the info on this “campaign in her outstanding piece, “Maureen Dowd Berates Obama While Senators Durbin and Boxer Want Us to Kiss-y the Prez and Make-y Better.”

Just think about that. People voted for a man whose ego is so incredibly delicate that he has to CONSTANTLY be on the receiving end of praise and accolades, even when he doesn’t deserve it. Otherwise, I guess he will just go sulk in the corner, or throw a hissy fit. Like I have said all along, Obama’s petulance and requirement for non-stop adulation makes George Bush look like, well, an adult.

Can you just imagine, just IMAGINE, if this had been done by two Republican Senators back in 2001 the ridicule from all of us who opposed Bush? Jon Stewart would get mileage out of that for at least a week. Maybe a month. All of the late night hosts would be making fun of the Stewart Smalley-esque needs of the president (h/t to American Girl for reminding me of the, “I’m smart enough, I’m good enough, and dog-gone it, people LIKE me!”). But Obama? I have heard not ONE word about this campaign by two long-term US Senators. I guess not enough of these jokers have gotten their heads out of their…Obama-love.

I can say this will the fullest confidence – Hillary Clinton would never, in a gazillion years, require that kind of over-the-top praise and adoration that Obama seems to need. He needs to grow the hell up already and start worrying about his job. The one for which he CLEARLY was not ready on Day One to have. She was, which she has demonstrated with her hard work already at the State Department. Obama? Well, he’s been busy trying out all the new “toys” (read: Air Force 1, etc.) of his office (really? AF 1 to fly to VA???), going before House Democrats and acting all tough with his teleprompter on those horrible Republicans who were standing in the way of his repaying ACORN with our money. Oh, yeah.

This is the guy the DNC hand-selected. The one for whom it sold its soul. Now, go get your crayons and paper, and send the poor little president a note telling him what a bang-up job he has done in the past two-plus weeks, with the massive stimulus package he wants, the tax evader he put in charge of the IRS, as well as the other tax evaders with whom he wanted to surround himself, putting off getting the troops out of Iraq, but not wasting any time expanding Bush’s Faith Based Initiatives (more on that soon), already getting it up and running, and so much more. Let him know that you know he is the quintessential Chicago-style politician despite his “words, just words.” Remember, your job is to prop him up, not hurt his little feelings, so you should make sure you draw some little rainbows, unicorns, and smiley faces on it. That should do it.

Sure did it for me. Excuse me while I go get ill.

What made it even worse was that their “hip” New York audiences would go stone cold silent, or even boo, if they made any jokes at Obama’s expense.  There was a classic moment when Jon Stewart made a small joke about Obama and the audience kind of moaned disapprovingly.  He raised his eyebrows and said, “It’s OK to laugh at him.”  The audience wasn’t so sure.

Stewart had learned, and demonstrated, the problem with Obama as regards humor.  His minions will not tolerate dissent.  And no satire!  And mocking is right out!!

Too late, these political funnymen realized they backed the wrong horse, to the detriment of their careers.  G.W. Bush was a mainstay of political humor.  He was a virtual fountain of funny.  Funny looking.  Funny talking.  Funny ideas.  Funny fuckups.  As Bugs Bunny would have said, “What a maroon!”

Here is a cursory comparison of the difficulty comedians face with the change in administrations.  You can see in the table below how the styles of the outgoing and incoming presidents differ, and the problem this presents to the gag guys.

And there are some things that are taboo purely because of racial sensitivities.  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard Bush called The Chimp, with pictorial side-by-sides and all, but any comparisons of Obama to any type of primate will be shouted down as racist.  Early in the primaries, for example, a bar owner in the South thought Obama’s ears looked like the children’s book character, Curious George, a monkey.  He had some T-shirts printed up comparing the two.  As a result, 70 million liberals had cardiac incidents.

Perhaps the fact that the above-mentioned programs are taped in New York City is a large part of the problem.  I think they would find jabs at Obama would get much bigger laughs if they moved their studios to some place like Atlantic City or Las Vegas.  Think about it… these are places where people like Jeff Foxworthy and Don Rickles draw huge cheering crowds.  Alcohol may play a role in that, but that may be what’s needed to get white people to overcome their fear of laughing at a black president.  I’m sure there’s a certain bar owner in the South who would agree. 

Another alternative location would be Chicago.  I’d bet good money that most of the folks there don’t have to overcome a sense of awe and reverence in order to get a good laugh at the expense of their hometown politico.  In fact, maybe these comics should send some talent scouts to Chicago to find some writers who aren’t intimidated by Obama’s worshippers.  They probably have a ton of gags about Obama and his Chicago connections.  They’re proud to say Chicago has the best politicians money can buy.

Saturday Night Live has had a white guy playing Obama, which upset some people, but that makes sense to me because Obama is just as much white as he is black.  So they’d have to have a “mutt” play him to make that right with the critics.  And SNL has been about the only show I have seen satirize Obama at all.  What comes to mind is the famous skit from the primaries in which Obama crowds Hillary during the debate and the moderators fawn over him.  Having done that bit, it can’t be done again because it wouldn’t be funny twice.  In fact, it kind of makes people uncomfortable with the truth in the concept of the media being “in the tank” for Obama from the start.  They should keep in mind it’s a very short distance from being in the tank to being under the bus.

Past presidents were openly satirized, no matter how popular they were.  Kennedy had imitators who got laughs just by doing his accent.  Accents have always played well in presidential satire.  There have been lots of presidents lately with Southern accents, and they were all roundly mocked. 

I remember back in April when Hillary was campaigning in the Rust Belt, and she let her twang come out, knocked back a beer and a shot, and spoke from the back of pickup trucks.  But hey, she’s from Arkansas, you know.  That got plenty of attention from the comics, but nobody pointed out that Obama was talking hip-hop slang with a “brutha” accent at plenty of rallies, and putting on a nasal “honky voice” at others.  Most of the time, to my ears, Obama sounds like Richard Pryor did when he put on his “white” voice in some of his stand-up routines.

 And how will it go over when comedians first make fun of Michelle Obama?  She’s the only person I know who’s “smile” looks like a Fu Manchu moustache.  When she was listening to Hillary’s speech at the Convention, the corners of her mouth touched her collarbone.  And if you’ve seen the old pictures of her before her cosmetic surgeries, she’s gone through more de-Africanization than Michael Jackson.  I know many women have snarked about her taste in clothes, and I’ve wondered myself whether her clothes were selected by a fashion consultant or an upholsterer.

I think what it’s going to come down to is that black comedians will be the only ones allowed to make jokes about the Obama family.  I think there will be a rise in prominence of black comedians who do Obama impressions and make fun of the Obama family in ways that only another black person could get away with. 

Jon Stewart has already been using a black surrogate-correspondent to make all the jokes that may involve Obama’s racial makeup.  Dave Letterman is such an old white honky, he doesn’t dare joke about Obama in any way that could be construed as racial; what’s he going to do, have a running joke about his “suit pants” to replace Hillary’s pant-suits?  Stephen Colbert is so hard to read, you never know when he’s serious or not anyway.  He can probably get away with more because he is pretending to be a Right Winger (See?  He’s not being a bigot, he’s mocking bigots!). 

I can’t help but think that these guys will be hard-pressed to stay on top of their games, and some may decide on early retirement.  Or others may make that decision for them.   Let’s see, we can have Eddie Murphy take over Letterman’s Late Show, Chris Rock can replace Jon Stewart, and Wanda Sykes would be perfect for the Tonight Show. 

So, all you folks in the mainstream political comedy business, you got what you wanted.  You helped get Obama elected.  Now let’s see what you can do when you don’t have George Dubya Bush to kick around anymore. 

Hey, great name for a country mock band: Dub and the NeoCons!  I need to file a copyright on that!

I stopped reading Maureen Dowd and the rest of the New York Times’ misogynists during the primaries. Like many of Hillary’s supporters, I could not stomach their CDS hatefest,  and their Kool Aid keggers just added insult to injury. However, now that Himself is the presumptuous Democratic nominee, Ms Dowd has taken to noticing some of the problems of his candidacy. In a recent Op-Ed, Dowd writes:

When I interviewed Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for Rolling Stone a couple years ago, I wondered what Barack Obama would mean for them.“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.’ ’   

During the primary, when I went looking for editorial cartoons on Barack Obama,  I read on Daryl Cagle’s cartoon site that because cartoonists couldn’t draw him well, there were few cartoons of Obama. I wondered then if that statement was a dodge because cartoonists didn’t want to be accused of racism when they caricatured Obama’s African American features. It has been abundantly clear that  cartoonists have absolutely no problem finding ways to caricature Senator Clinton. The Cagle cartoonists now appear to be comfortable caricaturing Obama, as can be seen above.  About the difficulty to find humor with Obama, Bill Carter writes: 

When Mr. Stewart on “The Daily Show” recently tried to joke about Mr. Obama changing his position on campaign financing, for instance, he met with such obvious resistance from the audience, he said, “You know, you’re allowed to laugh at him.” Mr. Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, “People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them.”.Noting that the senator seems to emphasize the historic nature of his quest, Mr. Stewart said, “So far, our take is that he’s positioning himself to be on a coin.”   

Making fun of politician has been a staple of democracy since its founding. Political satire, invective humor and dramatic irony began in Athens with the founding of democracy and remains essential to the democratic process of vetting, critiquing and exposing through humor. Aristophanes made good use of it in Athens and we continue to reap the benefits from the freedom to laugh at our leaders. In his comedy, the Knights, Aristophanes writes about an Athenian leader: 

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.   

Remarkably, Dowd appears to understand that by being off-limits to humor, Obama, who is mostly unknown anyway, is becoming a tight little knot of impenetrable actions, defended vociferously by his surrogates. She writes:

Certainly, as the potential first black president, and as a contender with tender experience, Obama must feel under strain to be serious. But he does not want the “take” on him to become that he’s so tightly wrapped, overcalculated and circumspect that he can’t even allow anyone to make jokes about him, and that his supporters are so evangelical and eager for a champion to rescue America that their response to any razzing is a sanctimonious: Don’t mess with our messiah!If Obama keeps being stingy with his quips and smiles, and if the dominant perception of him is that you can’t make jokes about him, it might infect his campaign with an airless quality. His humorlessness could spark humor.    

Americans make fun of their politicians. In fact, all free people do. Hillary joined Amy Poehler in caricaturing herself on Saturday Night Live and people loved it.  If out of political correctness or sanctimony, a politician is not laughing along with people, then the jokes are whispered and become less, not more, acceptable. If Obama doesn’t begin to laugh with people, he will become the laughingstock of people. In fact, that is already happening to the arugula candidate, as Dowd states: 

He’s already in danger of seeming too prissy about food — a perception heightened when The Wall Street Journal reported that the planners for Obama’s convention have hired the first-ever Director of Greening, the environmental activist Andrea Robinson. She in turn hired an Official Carbon Adviser to “measure the greenhouse-gas emissions of every placard, every plane trip, every appetizer prepared and every coffee cup tossed.”The “lean ‘n’ green” catering guidelines, The Journal said, bar fried food and instruct that, “on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include ‘at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.’ (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70% of the ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel during transportation.”Bring it on, Ozone Democrats! Because if Obama gets elected and there is nothing funny about him, it won’t be the economy that’s depressed. It will be the rest of us.   

– Hillary Clinton last night on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” (Part 2 is below.)

“If I Was a Woman, I’d Be Embarrassed for Her”

Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, on Hillary Clinton: “It’s so ludicrous that it’s almost comical . . . . And the whole crying now before every primary? You’ve got to be kidding me.” [Robinson also] says Bill Clinton is a liar: “He’s straight up saying things that aren’t true.” “No one’s ever called those people on it.”  – From Mark Halperin, The Page blog at Time magazine. Dare I add that is reprehensibly sexist?

Like Newsweek writer Jonathan Alter’s misogynistic remark the other night at a NYC forum:

Alter did say he thought Clinton was sometimes treated unfairly because she is a woman, but hedged even on that, saying, “It’s hard to disaggregate her Clinton-ness from her gender.”

Here’s part 2 of “The Daily Show” interview last night: