When Late Night Attacks: Left Worries Obama Becoming Punchline

by Jason Killian Meath

As a candidate, Barack Obama was just as comfy on a late night couch as he was on the stump. The late night comedians and writers spared Obama from the barbs and prods they use to turn formidable politicians into laughing stocks. After all, they had their scopes set squarely on you know who… (paging Tina Fey).

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A few weeks ago, a funny thing happened — call it a late night political paradigm shift. Conan O’Brien put some extra bite to his bark by featuring a tape of Sesame Street characters who earlier in the day had visited with the First Lady to talk about healthy eating. Conan overdubbed the clip and, suddenly, instead of talking about food, the muppets questioned Obama’s ‘United States birth certificate’ and his ’socialist health care agenda.’ In the past, satire like this might have been automatically assumed to be an attack on the right, but the skit ended up taking some Obama fans aback. Perhaps it struck a nerve.

Then, Saturday Night Live rolled out a skit blatantly saying Obama had accomplished nothing, and followed it up by laughing at his Nobel Prize — relatively mild in execution, but they managed to cause a stir in the press. These comedic bits, once routine against President Bush, distressed many Democrat opinion leaders. Suddenly, more than a few talking heads were calling for the White House to start making their accomplishments clear — (so it looks like they have some). Others were killing the messenger — calling SNL’s Fred Armisen, who plays Obama, “no Tina Fey.”

Touchy.

The left-leaning comedy writers are still holding back on the really good stuff. Will we ever see the skit where Obama runs with the Olympic torch, smoking a cigarette past a row of foreclosed homes while singing ‘Solidarity Forever?’ Probably not. Former SNL alum Chevy Chase recently told CNN he was very aware he was helping Jimmy Carter’s election as he lampooned President Ford as a klutz. According to Chase, SNL is “much more democratic now.” Nowadays, whatever political bit runs on SNL will undoubtedly repeat on the Today Show, CNN, MSNBC and others — right alongside serious political debate and discussion. As if SNL’s commentary is every bit as important as a national policy expert, or an analyst… or the rest of us.

But if these tidbits are going to be given such clout, couldn’t they at least be funny? It makes you wonder who should be more embarrassed — the White House or the comedy writers. On Obama’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize SNL joked he had won it “for not being George Bush.” Really? That’s the best they could do with that… Really?!

Whatever the laugh-factor, the bruise of the late-night anvil falling on the White House is undeniable. Washington Post blogger Jonathan Capehart summed it up, “When your ‘friends’ start talking about you like this — and friends with a huge megaphone and a feel for the national mood — the White House should listen.” They are.

Though the White House issues a “no comment” on the lampoons, it’s clear all the hub-bub is no laughing matter. White House’s deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer told the New York Times, “You ignore [the late night comic's] influence at your peril. They are often leading indicators of where the narrative is headed.”  Cowboy humorist Will Rogers noted long ago, ‘When people start taking the comedian seriously and the politician as a joke, everything changes.’

And so it goes with the ‘Change’ many once believed in.


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Posted Oct 21st 2009 at 6:44 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 138 Comments