There you go.  Everyone happy now?

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So, the flap about the Obama cover of the New Yorker set the net ablaze with commentary about what the cover had to say about perceptions that are still carrying over from misinformed emails and fraudulent claims about Obama’s views, religion, and politics.

But, if one can not make fun of the way some of the ridiculous ways certain people view Obama, what about the man can they make fun of? 

Obviously the color of his skin is off limits to most comedians (well- those featured on late-night tv and in print) because by and large those comedians are white.  I’m not saying whites shouldn’t make racially charged jokes, I think everyone should be able to comment on the topic of race as long as it’s in an honest thought provoking open forum that isn’t mean spirited or bigoted, but simply observant.  However, feelings of racial guilt paired with the easy ability for the overly sensitive to make big ordeals out of single comments tend to keep race jokes off the table.

His inability to bowl made for a joke or two, but that’s hardly enough fodder to carry over for an entire election season, let alone a possible presidency.

His ears maybe?  Only if the line about looking like a cab with it’s doors open tickles your funny bone.

His age is tough, because most of the people in his age range fall into the demographics that most comedians are trying to target, and so by aiming at age (something that’s far easier to do it would seem, when the target is McCain, who many commentators view as positively geriatric) the performer could alienate their audience.

His religion proves problematic because by claiming issue with him being a Muslim two things occur, we prove ourselves ill-informed because he is in fact Christian (this doesn’t prove to be a problem for a character like Stephen Colbert however, because the entire persona of Colbert is based on being ill-informed and quick to judge), and we also then bring up an issue of how we as a nation relate to Muslims in a time where that religion is under intense scrutiny given the conflicts we are embroiled in overseas, and the fact that our enemies there are predominantly Muslim, though of various different sects of which many (including Prez Candidate John McCain) can’t tell the difference.

What are we left with?  Past youthful transgressions involving drugs?  Could work if a) we hadn’t already spent all our coked out jokes on George W Bush, and b) if Obama hadn’t already been open about the topic, thus reducing the value as opposed to if he was say, an unrepentant closeted past drug user.

The only thing really open to ridicule is how not open to ridicule he is.  The presentation is almost too slick, too clean, too good.  And as opposed to mockery, that would seem more open to conspiracy theory (there’s plenty out there too).

So really, we all just have to wait for a major gaffe on the part of Obama.  Not a pretend flaw, but a real crack in the armor before the humor will come spilling out.

Or as one Mike Sweeney, head writer for Conan O’Brien’s “Late Night” show, said “We’re hoping he picks an idiot as vice president.”

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The staff at The NYer says it’s supposed to be a satire of the way Obama is viewed by the public, though that isn’t mentioned anywhere in the rag, instead the history of Obama in Chicago politics, and a piece on his flip flopping fill the pages.  Is it satire, is it a series of stereotypes they’re trying to keep alive, or is it something else entirely?  Regardless of intent, by putting something like this on the cover, they’re sure to draw readership both the agreeable, and the outraged.

Popularity: 2% [?]