Remember this moment, folks.  November 21, 2009 at 11:30pm.  Over one year after Obama’s election and just more than ten months into his administration, “Saturday Night Live” takes its first crack at Obama for something other than not being left enough.  Splash of ice-cold water here:

The sketch really isn’t pro-conservative as much as it’s anti-Obama.  SNL mocks the stimulus, Cash for Clunkers, the debt Obama is increasing exponentially, and Obamacare’s bogus accounting, not to mention the fact that Fred Armisen’s too-cool-for-school Obama took the night off, but the writers are careful not argue for an alternative.  SNL deftly takes a crack at one side without directly supporting the other side, a tactic “South Park” has down to a science.  The sketch isn’t rock-solid from a policy standpoint, so we will post the clip of the CNN fact check once they air it.

SNL’s “Palin 2012” trailer after the jump:

SNL also took a shot at Sarah Palin last night with a satirical trailer riffing off of Roland Emmerich’s “2012” (which opened last week) where Sarah Palin’s 2012 presidential election leads to Armageddon. Yet, SNL flexes its cunning again by noting “Palin 2012″ is brought to you by the DNC and “the mind of Keith Olbermann.” We figure SNL either intended this to be a dig at the left’s obsession and fear of the Going Rogue author or their way of preempting attacks from media outlets, like, say, this one.  Either way, well played.

The concept for the sketch does seem to fall into the “too good to resist” category, since “2012″ is the title of a blockbuster movie and an election year.  It also wouldn’t make sense that an Obama RE-election would lead to calamity since we will have (presumably) survived his first term, so it figures a Republican would be the subject of the sketch. It’s far from a shocker that SNL chose Palin over other possible 2012 candidates like Romney or Huckabee.  Still, SNL certainly has resisted dozens of obvious Obama jokes over the last couple years, so we’re interested to hear if you give them a pass for this one.

Obama’s Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

It’s a sad state of affairs when you have to credit satirists for doing what they are supposed to be doing, but as SNL spins the lamest impersonation ever to chastise Obama for not being liberal enough and Bill Maher obsessively pounds out 3,000 words hoping to undo his own status as a punchline after a public meltdown, we’ll take what we can get.

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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To paraphrase Groucho Marx, a child of five could improve on this immensely.  Anyone could make these parodies of Obama funnier.  Obama’s mannerisms, speech patterns, physical oddities (ears) etc. are ripe for satire. Add Michelle Obama and Joe Biden to the mix and it only gets better.  The audience would be rolling in the aisles. Obama presents a comedy writer with the potential for endless comedic situations.  Obama is a unique character who offers a buffet of satire, pregnant with possibilities.

But the folks at SNL know they can’t appear partisan by NOT parodying Obama, so they have to do something.  They present a bland milquetoast version that gently mocks Obama.  And they do it in the show’s opening segment, typically the strongest segment of the program, the attention-getter that sets the tone and hits you hard with the punch line “Live!  From New York! It’s Saturday Night!”

Now they’re busted.  Chevy Chase’s interview only serves to bolster Marlow’s case.  In that CNN interview, Chevy Chase says his lampooning of President Gerald Ford was driven by his support for Jimmy Carter.  And he makes no secret of the fact that SNL does this as standard operating procedure.

Chase: … And I certainly, obviously my leanings were Democratic and I wanted Carter in and I wanted [Ford] out and I figured look, we’re reaching millions of people every weekend, why not do it.

CNN: You mean to tell me in the back of your mind you were thinking, hey I want Carter …

Chase: Oh, yeah.

CNN: And I’m going to make him look bad.

Chase: Oh yeah. What do you think they’re doing now, you think they’re just doing this because Sarah’s funny? No, I think that the show is very much more Democratic and liberal-oriented, that they are obviously more for Barack Obama. [In the '70s], out of the Nixon era, and it was not unlikely that I might go that direction.

CNN: I talked to one political pundit who said, I think Chevy Chase cost Ford the presidency.

Chase: When you have that kind of a venue and power where you can reach so many millions of people and you’ve become a show that people watch, you know, you can affect a lot of people, and humor does it beautifully, because humor is perspective and has a way of making judgment calls. … So I think there was no question that it had major effect and in fact, in speaking with his family and then later him, and even reading some of his books … he felt so, too.”

This makes the case that SNL is manipulating their interpretation of Obama.  They’re not doing it to be funny.  They’re doing it to be able to say they’ve lampooned Obama.  It’s political cover.  It’s NBC.

There has been a rumor floating around that Fred Armisen is intentionally, perhaps at the behest of the NBC powers-that-be, making his Obama impersonation as inaccurate and unfunny as possible. With that in mind, consider this phoned-in sketch exhibit number 47 in “The People vs. Saturday Night Live.” (NOTE: The only thing that makes the Big Hollywood editorial staff reluctant to investigate further is that the rest of the show isn’t much funnier.)

Also:
-Why doesn’t SNL ever direct Armisen to look back and forth at two teleprompters like Obama does every time he gives an address? Seems pretty obvious, no?

-Of course, “It looks like the CNN fact-checkers will be busy again this week.”

-Once again, SNL takes a shot at Obama’s economic team, but no barbs are thrown at Obama himself.

At any rate, this first ever comprehensive fact-check of an SNL skit might be the strangest piece of media analysis I’ve ever seen.

Check it out, check-it-outers. (ROLL TAPE)

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Now, wouldn`t you know, according to CNN`s analysis, the skit “missed the mark.” This is a not a fair portrayal, they whine – which is not surprising, coming from a network blinded by the President`s pocket lint. But forgive me for being both flabbered and gasted, but have you ever seen a news network review a comedy sketch for fairness? Did CNN ever do this when SNL went after Bush, Palin, or any other Republican?

But look, I don`t expect that. Reviewing an SNL skit for accuracy is like reviewing McDonalds for their wine list. So what`s the explanation? My guess is this segment was manufactured immediately after being asked for by someone living in a big house with a huge ego and now, bruised feelings.

It reminds me of a pal receiving shabby service at a restaurant, then imploring friends to write withering reviews on the joint`s website (okay, that was me).

But the funniest part in all this? That CNN missed the big story, completely overlooking Fred Armison`s skit sabatoge. In the history of television, I don`t think you could find another actor more offended by his own job, which was playing Obama negatively. You could find more sincerity from a hostage reading a ransom note complimenting his captors. Seriously, I half-expected him to blink in Morse code, pleading for help.

In the end, it makes me wonder if CNN’s analysis of SNL was a skit in itself -a brilliant Onion evisceration designed to poke fun of a network so in the tank for Obama that a skit on the Messiah short circuits their powers of reason. But if CNN has truly decided this is a worthy exercise – why stop with skits? I saw a recent “Animals Gone Wild” video where it was clear a cocky matador was way too harsh on a bull.

And if you disagree with me, then you’re probably a racist.

Tonight, we’ve go Juliet Huddy, Congressman McCotter, comedian Joe DeRosa, and writer/commentator Evan Sayet.

This sketch wasn’t aimed at Rahm Emanuel, Joe the Biden, or Tim Geithner… it was targeting the Man himself.  But did SNL really turn over a new leaf?  Nope.  The criticism leveled at Obama was that he is failing to execute the brilliantly conceived left-wing aspects of his agenda as stated in his campaign.  Of course, there is no casting judgment on those ideas and no mention that most of America doesn’t actually support them.

This is a tactic Bill Maher has mastered.  He has repeatedly leveled humorous critique at Obama, but the arguments always hinge around Obama not behaving like the left-winger we thought we elected.

While it was refreshing to see a sketch where Obama is the punch line, Big Hollywood’s massive editorial staff is still unimpressed (and un-amused, but that’s for another post).

We invite you to use the comments to list some of the things Obama has thus far failed to do that would have appeared in the sketch had the writers been more sympathetic to those of the center-right persuasion.

2008 marked a departure from the memorable, more cordial years of Chevy Chase as a clumsy Gerald Ford or Dana Carvey’s hilarious H.W. Bush: “wouldn’t be prudent.”  Fey was downright mean.

For her part, Palin was an easy target — a conservative woman and mother. And seemingly abhorrent to Fey and friends, Palin had small town values, a small town family and — as Fey chafed on Palin’s world view — “I can see Alaska from my house.”  The impersonations were sometimes funny, but more often foul.  ”I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers…,” Fey roasted during one of the skits… an innuendo on Palin’s pregnant, unwed daughter.  Her satire strayed from the issues into catty, sexist territory — intellect, pregnancy, family attacks and even sexual riffs.

Lucky for Fey, she runs with a highly elitist, bi-coastal posse — the NY-LA intellectuals who are free from the burdens of conservatism.  They’re free thinkers who celebrate their contribution to the world as they scream at the doorman for not having their Town Car ready.  Palin was an unknown from a far away place, she didn’t stand a chance with this crowd.

Conveniently, this cadre of smarty pants run NBC.  When the Palin impersonation generated some water cooler buzz, NBC gave her a whole SNL special, and then another and another — right before the election.  By then, Palin and Fey had become fused (at least on TV).  She was good at playing Palin.  Too good.  If you turned down the volume, it was impossible to tell the two apart.  The result was, at the very least, chinks in the Alaska governor’s armor.

Fey’s Emmy is just icing on the cake; Saturday Night Live ought to be crying “Thank You!” to Ms. Fey for making the expiring show relevant again.  The irony has not been lost on most observers: it was another woman who utterly ripped apart one of the first women on a Presidential ticket.  Can one imagine Eddie Murphy returning to SNL to lambast Obama night after night weeks before the campaign?  And NBC clearing blocks in their prime time schedule in order to promote more time to bash Barack?  Of course not.

Ironically, Fey’s years of appearances on SNL were never as remarkable as her return to play Palin. When Fey starred in the forgettable “Baby Mama,” some critics noticed a lack of big screen pizzazz.  Funny how a feisty governor from Wasilla can move blockbuster-sized crowds, riveting American TV viewers overnight during the 2008 Convention, but Fey couldn’t turn years of training on SNL and stand up comedy into any great cinematic effect.  Okay, now I’m being cruel — apologies.

This is one backbiting impersonation that has had its 15 minutes.  In a nation that craves to sort its entertainers and politicians into nice, neat bins, please file Fey’s Sarah Palin ’satire’ in the heap of tiresome fads like Flash Mobs, Snoop Dogg Ring Tones and Napolean Dynamite.  Are these things the world might have been better off without?  You Betcha.