In my Humble Opinion Laugh at Obama? Yes we can?

Author: Daniel Roberts

Holy hell, we are finally going to have a president that we can be excited about. Even President Bush called the victory "uplifting." And one staunch McCain supporter I know admitted that even though Obama wasn't his choice, he's excited for the country, and proud to be an American. Tuesday was a night that I'm sure all of us will remember as long as we live.

But enough gushing, Obama (who wasted absolutely no time celebrating) is already hard at work choosing his cabinet, and the pundits and journalists are examining his every step. One question that's come to the forefront recently has been about political humor - how can we ridicule a President Obama? Are Colbert, Stewart, Leno and Letterman all out of a job? The evidence suggests that yes - in trying to mock Barack, comedians are going to have some real trouble.

These guys never knew how good they had it in the past decade. We may not remember it now that he's become a stout, lovable advocate of the environment and generally worshiped genius, but in 2000, Al Gore was an easy target - a robot with no emotion or facial expression. Plus, Tipper Gore, enough said. Then John Kerry came along, with the Ketchup maiden by his side, and no one could let up about his three Purple Hearts (and to his own detriment, neither could he). Through it all, beginning in 2000, the "liberal elite media" (thank you, Sarah Palin) had George Walker Bush - a gift God handed them on a silver platter. There was the pretzel incident, the monkey faces, and the countless verbal mistakes ("misunderestimated," anyone?) that came to be known as "Bush-isms."

Of course, there's a long tradition of ridiculing politicians that dates back to before 2000. Bill Clinton? Even before the Lewinsky scandal, he was a figure as mocked as he was adored. And before him we had Mike Dukakis, with his infamous photo in the army tank. The laughs came easy with these guys.

But President Obama presents a problem for comics; he just doesn't do anything wrong. He doesn't embarrass himself. He speaks eloquently. He went to Columbia, then Harvard Law School. After college, he spent years toiling for others. He doesn't have sexual dalliances ala Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, or John Edwards. Instead, he has a beautiful wife and two lovely daughters. And he's buying them a puppy.

And, in case you hadn't noticed, he's black. As Jimmy Kimmel told Maureen Dowd, "there's a weird reverse racism going on" that has spared Obama from ridicule so far. Indeed, when all the comedians on late night television are white (and they gave Conan's Late Night spot to Jimmy Fallon? How about Chris Rock, or anyone else who's actually funny?), there's certainly a fear, incited by political correctness, that we need to walk on eggshells. Remember how awkward it was when Ludacris wrote that song, rapping about how Obama's going to "Paint the White House black, and I'm sure that's got 'em terrified!" Obama's camp couldn't have possibly distanced their candidate from the video more quickly.

Forgetting the racial tension, there are still some areas that comics desperately try to expose. There's his memoir, in which he candidly revealed his use of "a little blow" in college, and there's the liability of his own name (we elected a president who shares a middle name with a tyrant we just executed?), but these seem more like things that should make us impressed he was still able to gain the presidency. They should inspire admiration, rather than ridicule.

Another option (the only one, right now) is to tease him for how perfect he seems to be - you know, 'The guy's a law school professor, brilliant orator, and he can swish three pointers, too! What is he, Superman?' But that can only last so long. Once we've laughed at how great he is, all we can really do is celebrate that greatness. And our pride in having found him isn't really so funny; it's serious, and wonderful.

Political humor is always a slippery slope, and undoubtedly the 'funny guys' will work hard to come up with clever ways to taunt the 44th president. But they're going to have a tough time of it, unless he gives them fodder for jokes by faltering terribly in the early months of his presidency. I don't see that happening.