John Podhoretz notes Barack Obama's lack of humor, per the New Yorker cover kerfuffle, and then helpfully gives us the latest from online humorist Andy Borowitz, which riffs off a July 15 New York Times story on h0w late-night comics are having trouble coming up with Obama jokes:
Obama Releases List of Approved Jokes About Himself
Bid to Help Late Night Comics
Saying he is “sympathetic to late night comedians’ struggle to find jokes to make about me,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) today issued a list of official campaign-approved Barack Obama jokes.
The five jokes, which Sen. Obama said he is making available to all comedians free of charge, are as follows:
Barack Obama and a kangaroo pull up to a gas station. The gas station attendant takes one look at the kangaroo and says, “You know, we don’t get many kangaroos here.” Barack Obama replies, “At these prices, I’m not surprised. That’s why we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
A traveling salesman knocks on the door of a farmhouse, and much to his surprise, Barack Obama answers the door. The salesman says, “I was expecting the farmer’s daughter.” Barack Obama replies, “She’s not here. The farm was foreclosed on because of subprime loans that are making a mockery of the American Dream.”
A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Why the long face?” Barack Obama replies, “His jockey just lost his health insurance, which should be the right of all Americans.”
Q: What’s black and white and red all over?
Barack Obama: The New Yorker magazine, which should be embarrassed after publishing such a tasteless and offensive cover, which I reject and denounce.
A Christian, a Jew and Barack Obama are in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Barack Obama says, “This joke isn’t going to work because there’s no Muslim in this boat.”
Here is a YouTube video (3:40) with two pundits discussing the aversion--which both deem understandable and thus, defensible--to cracking jokes about members of historically disadvantaged minority groups. Interestingly, they include Muslims, who have no such record of disability in the US--they are above-average in income rank and fully integrated (unless they wish otherwise) into American life.
Yet there is a very unfunny reality underlying all this:
The Times story offers two reasons for the lack of Obama jokes: (1) comics (who are, thought the Gray Lady does not so say, liberals), find no fault with him (!!!!); (2) white comics cannot safely joke about a black candidate. Proof of the latter is this part of the Times story, quoting a black comic:
Things might be somewhat different if even one late-night host was black. Black comics are not having any trouble joking about Mr. Obama, said David Alan Grier, a comedian who, starting in October, will have a satirical news magazine show on Comedy Central, “Chocolate News.”
“I tell jokes on stage about him,” Mr. Grier said, reciting a few that would not ever get onto a network late-night show (nor into this newspaper).
But he said of the late-night hosts, “Those guys really can’t go there. It’s just like the gay comic can do gay material. It comes with the territory.” Still, he said, he has no sympathy for the hosts. “No way. They’ve had 200 years of presidential jokes. It’s our time.”
After 200 years, it's "our time." So much for post-racial governance: A New York Times front-pager reports that polls show his candidacy has failed so far to narrow the country's deep racial divide; and thus, Obama's strongest supporters by far, African-Americans, will not stand for a truly racially-neutral black Presidency. Worse, black voters deny that Obama's candidacy reflects progress on race.
Especially disturbing metrics in the article: (1) 40% of blacks believe McCain will favor whites, and thus by 89-2% blacks favor Obama over Mac (in 2004 blacks favored Kerry over Bush by 88-11); (2) 40% of blacks, versus 80% of whites, perceive racial progress in recent years; (3) 50% of blacks say not enough has been made of racial barriers facing blacks, while 25% of whites say too much has been made of such barriers; (4) 80% of blacks but only 30% of whites have a favorable opinion of Obama. The Gray Lady reports that "few" Americans have regular contact with those of other races, and that "few" neighborhoods and workplaces are integrated.
Politically incorrect questions: How will African-Americans perceive the state of white racism in America if voters reject Barack Obama this fall, despite the black community's overwhelming support? Will they conclude that the system is stacked against them still? Will even a close loss generate such feelings on the part of most blacks? Will defeat of Obama, in and of itself, widen the racial divide, by embittering blacks?
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