Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Saturday Night Live Mocks Obama: A Different Take

If you've spent any time on the internet reading news sites of your favorite blogs from either side of the aisle, you certainly have seen this video:





The left is beside themselves over this atrocity. CNN yesterday had a great deal of programming dedicated to "fact-checking" Saturday Night Live, even pointing to politifact.org as a source for proof that Obama is indeed delivering in promises kept, and in doing so perpetuated the concept that Obama is indeed a darling of the "drive-by media." They even went so far as to have Wolf Blitzer's analyst lead her segment by saying "SNL couldn't have been more off the mark. Obama on Obama - well, not really."





Meanwhile, many on the right are ecstatic that a mainstream comic or comedy team finally decided that President Obama is fair game. Late night comics including Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien, and David Letterman have treated Obama like the plague, as it has seemed that the concept of commenting about the humor surrounding the teleprompter, the glass door, and other events was completely taboo. To the extreme, Rush Limbaugh, in a somewhat deserved moment of self-aggrandizement, said that it was nice to see the comics finally catching up to him.

I hold a different opinion on this issue. As pointed out by Glenn Beck on yesterday's television program, this is quite possibly just as much a warning shot across the bow towards the president from the far left as it is a moment of humor.

As previously mentioned, for at least two years now candidate and president Barack Obama has been off limits for comedy. For years we heard about George W. Bush's intellect, or in the eyes of comics and leftist pundits the lack thereof. Hardly a week would go by without a joke made about a grammatical error or a "Bushism"of some sort. Yet surprisingly, this very prominent attempt at a laugh at the expense of President Obama was not for something simple and common; rather it was over serious issues of policy.

President Obama has a well known attachment to his teleprompter; he has had one of them crumble in front of a crowd during a speech, and one was either programmed incorrectly or could not keep up with him. There have certainly been other moments of this presidency over which many have been able to laugh, but SNL may have an agenda larger than what we saw live on Saturday night.

After all, it is certainly believed by many on the left, and quite possibly some inside the SNL camp, that Tina Fey's mockery of Sarah Palin helped diminish the intensity of support for the vice-presidential nominee during the campaign. Therefore, the crew of SNL may very well feel a bit emboldened, and believe that it has become a serious part of the political discourse. Additionally, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show has become a gathering place for young people with strong interests in politics. And while certainly Stewart is funny and at times can be accurate, his show, as well as SNL, has sometimes become dangerously close to being considered newsworthy by liberals who really wish to reinforce their own predisposed belief system.

Therefore, as SNL picked four very serious campaign promises as topics for 'humor,' perhaps humor has become more serious than ever. Of course, given the fact that many Obama voters were interviewed at the time of the election and proven to have little working knowledge of current political events, perhaps Saturday Night Live is today's "news division" at NBC.

6 comments:

Opus #6 said...

I thought at the time I first saw it that the lefties were trying to "goad Obama into pursuing the left wing agenda". Yes, this is a warning shot across his bow. The right can do blogging and tea partying. The left can make mince meat out of him on national shows. It is a hard world when you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Soloman said...

Opus - I'll bet it's a harder world when you can't please almost any of the people any of the time, which is where Obama is finding himself these days.

Not that I have ANY sympathy for him, after all, he promised hope and change.

All we can do is hope for him to change.. lol...

Pedaling said...

i see what you are saying.
there's an agenda in this skit-
for sure!

Amusing Bunni said...

I hope it becomes open season on obummer now...they need to keep hammering him every week, like they did Mrs. Palin. It's all about ratings, and they are getting them with this! Guy does a good obama too...the stuttering imbecilic look, yup, that's barry.

Soloman said...

Pedaling.. it's going to be interesting to see how the comedy around Obama progresses, and if they run more along the lines of an agenda, or if they lighten it up to just more poking fun.

Soloman said...

Bunni -

I hope they make fun of him too - a ton!

However, if making fun of him seems more like a policy statement, which is what I saw in this... then I'm a bit nervous about them saying anything at all, because he is smart and he will catch on to what they're doing, and he just might start following their requests / marching orders.