Want Obama in a punch line? First, find a joke

The International Herald Tribune ^ | Tuesday, July 15, 2008 | Bill Carter

[giotto]

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.

[giotto]

I would like to propose a way for uptight, guilt-ridden white people to make fun of, criticize, or make honest observations about Obama without being accused of racism:

Simply make jokes about his white half. Make cracker jokes, ala Chris Rock. Laugh about his prissy food preferences, his accent (which by the way always sounds more Southern when he's talking to people in the 'hood.) No one can accuse a white guy of racism, if he's making fun of white people. And the added bonus is that it would highlight the fact that Obama is at most only 50% black, although the actual percentage, given his father's Arabic ancestry, is more like 12%.

[weegee]

depicting the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and his wife, Michelle, as fist-bumping, flag-burning, bin Laden-loving terrorists

It isn't so much that Mr. and Mrs. Obama burn flags or support bin Laden. Flip the coin. Those who burn (or stomp on) American flags (like Obama's sponsor the domestic terrorist Ayers) and those who engage in global jihad DO support and endorse Barack Obama.

The man has the support and vote of people he may not be soliciting from but is doing damn little to denounce.

[Jeff Chandler]

He has made so many Quaylesque gaffs that if he were a Republican, he would already be a laughing stock.

This article is B.S.

[giotto]

That’s right. The New Yorker cover is not really satire at all, because it’s basically accurate. For anyone who has been paying attention, the only correct response to the cartoon is “And?”

[sten]

first time i saw the cover.. i didn’t realize it was supposed to be satire. it was too accurate... where’s the funny part?

[giotto]

This article is B.S.

Of course, but it still points out the fact that Obama has been handled with kid gloves by everyone to the left of The Beltway Boys.

[rockrr]

This link worked better for me: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/15/america/15humor.php

[rockrr]

When Stewart on "The Daily Show" recently tried to joke about 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." Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, "People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them."

Two things:

1. Libs have a paper-thin sense of humor - and laughing at themselves isn't a part of it.
2. Obeyme isn't funny.

[giotto]

Thank you. The link I provided was to the printer-friendly version of the article, but I guess it wasn’t browser friendly.

[giotto]

Exactly. It’s like propaganda masquerading as satire. And we all know how funny propaganda is.

[Paleo Conservative]

[rfp1234]

[highpockets]

If the shows took time to contact BHO's handlers and ask for the "correct jokes" they may be allowed to use them.

All it takes is getting permission from the BHO campaign.

Whats the problem?

I have no doubt the campaign has many insightful and humorous "positions" to share.

[IncPen]

[Apollo 13]

I love the New Yorker, always did. Can very well imagine many of you here don’t - that’s freedom of choice for you. I found their cover art directly following up on the 9/11 act of war one of the most emotional, heart-wrenching pictures I ever saw.
That said, I can’t really see what all the fuss is about on this topic now. They cracked a joke (for those willing to believe they did), or they stated a matter of fact (for all others). So what?
Every person has vulnerable sides to him or her, be he or she of the Republican or Democratic persuasion. Clinton was at his worst when he faced the nation and denied having been intimate with a young in-House student trusted to him. Very, very bad. Nixon had an above-par predilection for strong drink and barbiturates, as did Joe McCarthy. And no doubt a lot of muck will be raked still from Obama’s and his wife’s past.
Politics can be a dirty business. Satire is part of the deal. Life goes on.

[IncPen]

So this black guy, see, he gets picked out by the Chicago political machine, see, but he’s really a dope and he’s a friend of Bill Ayers and— wait, wait for it— Tony Rezko... And by some fluke of the universe he knocks off Hillary Clinton and exposes Bill Clinton as a race baiter (God, this is hilarious, wait til you hear the punch line) and he’s really thin skinned and he pimps out his daughters to Access Hollywood! Wait, the punchline is coming! And so he’s got this wackjob pastor whose sermons he listened to for 20 years! God, this is hilarious! And then— get this— he’s the democrat’s nominee! And they can’t stand him either! Get it?!

Bwa hahahahahah!

[giotto]

While I normally don't like to make fun of someone's physical appearance, the Dumbo jokes hit their target because of Obama's sensitivity about his ears. So a good rule of thumb is, anything Obama says is off limits is prime material. We can't use his middle name? That's joke material. Can't talk about his wife? More funny material.

Any comedian looking for jokes about Obama need only sift through the posts on FR. The posters here are more talented joke writers than all of Leno, Letterman and Stewart's combined.

[bethtopaz]

Now that’s funny!

[bethtopaz]

If you ever watch comedy shows on BET (Black Entertainment) you wouldn’t believe the stuff they say about white people.
Personally, I think it’s funny.
But if we said stuff like that about Blacks, we would be in big trouble.
It seems like the man of unity has sure stirred up a lot of bad feelings between the races these days.
Unity.My.%ss.

[Rummyfan]

I find B Hussein Obama a joke in and of himself: a first-term sentor with no national-level experience and whose foreign policy expertise is based on having attended elementary school in Indonesia, yet here he is running for President.

What is not a joke, and is even frightening, is that a substantial number of voters seem to think he's a good choice for the office.

[Recovering_Democrat]

See, here are the rules: it is okay for liberal hack groups to do commercials about the old, feeble John McCain.

Let a joke be done about Hussein and there will be hell to pay.

You will comply. Borg.

[Gemsbok]

How about a joke about the bogus birth certificate posted on the BHO website. Jay Leno could crack “ And this week, a spokesman for the Obambi campaign states he was born, Barry Dunham, in a small town near Vancouver, Canada........that must be one of the 57 states Obama referred to last week......hahahahah! Or, It could be turned into a betting game, like football pool, with the punch line tied to the wagering.

TOP TEN Audacities of Truth:

1. Born BHO in Hawaii, just ILLEGITIMATE - no dad listed.
2. Born BHO in Hawaii to a dad listed as ARAB, not negro.
3. Born BHO in Hawaii, to Muslim dad & race listed as WHITE.
4. Born BHO in WA, OR, CA or KS in ‘HOME for UN-WED girls.
5. Born Barry Dunham, not BHO, but born in Hawaii.
6. Born Barry Dunham, some OTHER GUY listed as dad.
7. Born Barry Dunham, in another state as in # 4.
8. Born Barry Dunham in CANADIAN ‘home for un-wed girls’
9. Born Barack Husein Obama in KENYA, Africa, but flown quickly to Hawaii and registered as a home birth in USA
10. Born Barack Husein Obama in KENYA, Africa, and legally naturalized as American citizen at some later date.

[KeyWest]

We should be respectful since, if he wins, we are all liable to be part of the Obama nation.

[nikos1121]

I think the jokes will come...and come like rain. This guy is an empty suit. I’ve heard some parodies on Rush that mimic him, and they’re funny.

“A hunter in Northern Wisconsin gets caught in a snow storm after killing a deer and crawls in the deer skin that night to stay warm. In the morning he finds himself sealed in, and try as he may, he can’t get out. He’s sure he’s going to eventually die. Then he remembered he voted for Obama in the primary, and felt so small he crawled out the @ssh*le.”

[nikos1121]

Seems I recall at a New York Press Club luncheon with Clinton in attendance, a video montage for the audience included some clips of Clinton, intermixed was a small dog humping someone’s leg, that they kept coming back to. Tore the place up.

[Beckwith]

There’s nothing funny about this Maoist!

[mikey_hates_everything]

"Simply make jokes about his white half."

[iopscusa]

The joke is the response to the NY’er cover...not only is the satire pretty indicative of a lot of perceptions about BHO, the BHO response is just like the knee-jerk, thin-skinned Islamic response to the Danish cartoons of Mohammad....it is quite humurous how that subliminal message is terrifying the BHO supporters. Let's see this pretend candidate mocked and parodied unceasingly! BHO is a bad joke./p>

[poobear]

Brilliant IncPen!

The “57 states” didn’t make it to late night comedy either.

[Mr. K]

The LIBERALS slime Obamarama but say “that what republicans are going to say” and people denounce the republicans for it...

It does not get much better than that.

[Mr. K]

hee hee hee... that IS funny

[giotto]

In other words, whenever the inevitable accusations of racism come, say, “I was referring to his white half.”

[toddlintown]

Ears.

Bah-ha-ha!

[Jo Nuvark]

Another clear case of liberals missing the forrest for the trees.

GREAT IDEA to make jokes about Oblahblah’s white half.

[weegee]

A substantial number of Americans also thought that the OJ decision was “getting back” at “the man” somehow even though they feel that he was getting away with double murder.

How it “got back” at unaffected people by letting a celebrity get off the charges is unclear.

Just like these Obamessiah voters are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Putting an unskilled manager in charge of the nation isn’t a victory. It says “none of it matters”. Not just experience. It isn’t worth investment of time to investigate issues or credibility to holding one position over another.

[weegee]

Neither did Obama calling McCain “Bush’s fourth term”.

[giotto]

Just like when Clinton was in office, you have to wonder how the humorists and joke writers can even restrain themselves.