Comedians find no humor in new president
It was the day after the inauguration, and America tuned in to see what jabs the late night comedians would administer to the new administration. Conan O’Brien mentioned the new president a few times, but mostly in poking fun at someone else, e.g. “President Obama’s chief of staff ordered federal agencies to freeze funding for a lot of projects that President Bush tried to push through in his final days… no national Scooby Doo museum.” Jay Leno did a segment interviewing a presidential impersonator – President Bush, not President Obama.
David Letterman ran another episode of “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.” The clip showed President Bush stumbling over the word missile in a speech about missile defense. Letterman was clearly un-bothered by the fact that Bush is no longer president. If Letterman had wanted to show a presidential misstep, he could have aired a clip from a press conference earlier in the day in which Barack Obama had to ask an aide to explain the meaning of an executive order Obama himself had just signed. (On second thought, maybe that was more troubling than funny.)
Comedians seem unwilling or unable to pick on Barack Obama – but which is it? 
Letterman treated his audience to a barrage of Democrat guests during the campaign season. During his program, O’Brien called Obama’s inauguration speech “fantastic” and “inspiring.” Perhaps we are in an era of entertainers as political operatives.
Maybe we should give comedians the benefit of the doubt, and conclude they don’t have the skill to create jokes about the new man in the White House. Standup specialist Chris Rock called Obama a “comedian’s worst nightmare” because he is too inspiring to make fun of. Last July, at an Obama fundraiser, comedian and Obama supporter Bernie Mac tried to make jokes about the man who would become president – and the audience turned on him.
It is early in the term, but already one doubts the nation’s comics will mock Obama with the zeal they mocked President Bush. It appears America will be a whole lot less funny for the next four years.
