What attracts me to a person is their sense of humour, particularly their ability to laugh at their own foibles. Self-deprecation is one of the most endearing and charming qualities a man/woman can have, especially those in positions of authority or celebrity. It makes one feel they are somehow a tad more human, more accessible, a little more like you and me.
Love him or hate him, George W Bush has that quality. Over the past 8 years, he has never balked at the plethora of disparaging comments, cartoons and lampoons thrown his way, and there have been many. He's even poked fun at himself, on occasion.
As we all know, celebrity invites scrutiny, and if you live in a democracy (as we do, at this point in time) you have to expect that along with the glory and praise there will be criticism, and if you can't take the heat then you need to get the heck out and find some other means of employment. Everyone in the public eye is potential fodder for comedians and late night talk show host banter, particularly those in the political arena, and the presumptive presidential candidates of our 2 major parties, McCain and Obama, are no exception. Barry Obama is proving to us, and the rest of the world, that the man has no sense of humour, whatsoever. The above cartoon in The New Yorker categorically proves that he can't take a joke. And the irony of it all- it was directed at the far right, not Obama himself. And, have we heard squat from McCain regarding the Rolling Stone cartoon above? Nope.
Do we really want a President who is so thin-skinned he can't handle a joke, or discern whether it's even directed at him to begin with? Are we going to be censored because our Commander In Chief is so insecure he can't tolerate criticism in any form?
Lighten up Barack! If you happen to get elected, you're either going to have to suffer the indignities of being made fun of, as most presidents have in the past, or go down in history as the man who forced censorship on a free country.
Hopefully it won't come to that.
11 comments:
And whilst miles and miles of column inches and hours of news time is spent on covering whether or not this cartoon is funny or insulting, the price of oil still rises, the economy worsens and all the really important issues that presidential hopefuls should be concerned about, are swept under the table.
It's such a trivial matter. It should be laughed at by both sides and forgotten about.
TROIKA: Got the comment you deleted, so I added a link. Should have done, but I assume you realized there had been a furor over it. Actually, even McCain chimed in he thought it was offensive, which was stupid, but that's politics.
And you're right.. it should be laughed at.
i love this cartoon of barry and his chick. they provide the fodder afterall. hehe. great post incognito.
;)
~maria
i do believe he would choose the latter incog... there could be something interesting to watch with these jokesters. most of the cartoonist at major newspapers are liberal. how long will their desire to poke fun, be supplanted by their desire to protect obomber. and when they do get fed up of his "outrage" over his depictions how will they respond.... i love it when liberals have to fight themselves, and this will be one of many instances i hope!!!
I'm hoping McCain stops making the same mistakes Bush has made in constantly REacting to the Left and mostly standing UP for it!!
Let some of the negative stick; it's well deserved, after all (like this obama cartoon..who really cares, but McC had to come out against it).
Interesting point about how intense Obama is; yet the Obama camp and our media love pointing out how McCain's a hot head!!
typical irony.
NAMASTE: Barry and his chick.. hehehe.. I don't know why he feels he's above criticism and being joked about. I truly believe he has narcisstic tendencies in the clinical sense of the word.
PATJ: Most of them are refraining from poking fun at him, at this point in time.. can't poke fun of the messiah of the libs, after all.
Z: I know what you mean. It's just that whole PC attitude everyone has these days. McCain is just trying to do the right thing.. which isn't always right. and absolutely, who cares.. it was a huge overreaction. But Obama has a tendency to overreact to anything that doesn't show him in a positive light.
you're just saying that because he's black!! :D
Uhuh.. ;-)
True. Obama has no sense of humor. I heard Rush Limbaugh talking about that today. He doesn't mind bashing Bush or anyone else. One of his new tv ads again attacks Bush and McCain. He is banking on the point that ALL Americans think Bush is to blame for all America's problems for the past 50 years and years to come.
ANON: He doesn't. Witness the recent roast, McCain was a natural comedian, Obama bombed.
Problem is many people do blame Bush for everything, that's why we are hated so much by the liberals.
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