Where We're Going

Last night I realized that there was a very simple answer to those who say they could have trouble finding humor in a Barack Obama presidency. It's not about Obama at all, but how we view politicians and more importantly, how we view politics. Generally, our political humor tends to be no different than our celebrity humor, focusing on larger than life personalities and bringing those personalities down to a more human, more relatable level. Now these techniques obviously worked well when it came to George Bush and Bill Clinton. Our last two presidents were such great characters you could have written a sitcom around either of them. But Barack Obama just isn't that guy. We don't have to get into questions about how honest or how great he is, because the larger point is that regardless of political affiliation, there's just not that much to find funny about Barack Obama- He'd make a terrible sitcom character.

Of course, it's rather simplistic when we view politics about nothing more than character, especially when it feeds into some of the preconceived notions that many people have about Barack Obama. It's almost as if we've reached a point where Barack Obama is a good President before he even takes the office, simply because he's a decent fellow. More sophisticated political humor deals not simply with characters, but with policy and that's precisely where there is room for Barack Obama-themed humor. Unlike Clinton and Bush, Obama will not be the butt of easy jokes, but that shouldn't be the end of the story. Hopefully, both writers of history and purveyors of comedy can see beyond the superficial.