Can't you take a joke?
The cartoon has the general humor level of most of SNL these days, which is to say, weaker than it's prime. The unspoken message is that Obama doesn't want to be associated with icons that represent the black community. In other words, it really goes into taboo territory. This cartoon doesn't fall into typical political humor such as making fun of the candidate's looks, ticks, style, intelligence, or policies. It goes at something that is more unusual: race politics.
Well, maybe I'm just overly sensitive. And I figured, what the heck, I'm sure that SNL will be preparing a Hillary Clinton cartoon as well. Media fairness and all.
I'm assuming they will also go into taboo territory and for Hillary that is obviously gender politics. So, in an effort to help SNL with some comedic ideas -- and their program clearly needs all the comedic ideas it can get -- I'm offering a list of possible plot lines for a Hillary cartoon:
a) Hillary PMSing and accidentally causing nuclear war. At the end, she can wrinkle nose, look at camera and give us a sweet "Oops!" (Bonus: her assistants talk about Hillary having one of her “bitch” days.)
b) Hillary constantly running sneaking out of the Oval Office to ask Bill to solve problems for her, each more trivial and obvious than the last. Bill, of course, has the answer every time. (Bonus: Every time she finds Bill, he’s boffing another one of her assistants and she has to interrupt them.)
c) Hillary dressing up as a slut and using her cleavage to get her Health Care Bill passed through Congress. (Bonus: Younger members of Congress are disgusted by an older woman's attempts to act sexy and that may cause her to lose her bill. Hillary then dresses up Chelsea to seduce these members of Congress.)
d) Hillary growing a mustache because a terrorist plot stole her post-menopausal hormones. (This will reference an old story about a CIA plot to have Fidel Castro’s beard fall out to humiliate him.)
e) Once in the White House, Hillary can finally come out of the closet and reveal that she has had a secret lesbian lover since the 90s. The real historic change is that we put a gay person in the White House. (Bonus: we can stunt cast someone like Ellen DeGeneres or Melissa Etheridge as her lover.)These are just some examples that came off the top of my head. I will certainly be willing to talk to the SNL writers if they like this general direction and want more. It would be awesome to get paid for this!
My vote is for B!
For a really interesting discussion of what is being missed in the reductionist "gender versus race" treatment that has been so prevalent, check out Gloria Steinem and Melissa Harris Lacewell, the first part of which is here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eQkzgr8kXDc
March 2, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for this.
March 2, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Besides the point that the "TV Funhouse" cartoons are produced by Robert Smigel and as far as I know, they are only licensed to "Saturday Night Live" for distribution -- I'm really at a loss to understand how pointing out that Sen. Obama seems to want to distance himself from some African-American leaders is "unspoken", it appeared to me to be the whole point of the video.
March 2, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kudos!
March 2, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
More long term eyes on the prize planning by a democrats - encourage the media to make fun of them, because what's important here isn't winning it's getting even.
March 2, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, so then I would assume that you take equal exception with all of SNL's satire of which a Democrat is the subject?
March 2, 2008 7:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
BevD,
Have you sent your strong letter of disapproval to NBC?
Here's the address:
http://www.nbc.com/Footer/Contact_Us/
Use the pulldown menu for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and you can type in your message there.
March 2, 2008 8:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the beginning of the season when the made fun of Hillary did you send a letter? SNL has been skewing the Clintons for years, were you upset?
But now you get it, huh?
March 3, 2008 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was able to find the original cartoon here:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/index.shtml#mea=224714
March 2, 2008 7:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary PMSing and accidentally causing nuclear war.
Alright, if we are going there, may I point out that Sen. Clinton is well past worrying about PMS?
March 2, 2008 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anticipating this reaction, I included idea (D).
March 2, 2008 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
whaoo, you Obama supporters are sensitive bunch... a cartoon about your guy in SNL and the non-stop whining start again, resulting in an endless anti-women rant... PMS jocks? Pimping Chelsea? Really funny!? One can wonder how low can you go...if you are not careful very soon you will sunk to the level of Rush and Orally…
March 3, 2008 12:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I would hope that a thinking person would be able to determine sarcasm and satire to make a point.
I'll explain the joke to you:
Your reaction to the comments about Hillary are similar to the way people will view the racist overtones expressed in the cartoon about Obama.
Unless, of course, you want to admit that as a Hillary supporter you are "sensitive" and your reaction to the "satire" I outlined is justified.
You see? You can't have it both ways.
That was the point of the post.
March 3, 2008 1:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
QED
March 3, 2008 3:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
What is your point? That you can make fun of Clinton just the way SNL can make fun of Obama. Clinton didn't draw the cartoons, Clinton didn't produce that episode of SNL, so who do you take your anger out on? Clinton.
March 3, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
These are the healers and uniters.
March 3, 2008 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, you are right; I am not really giving you the benefits of the sarcasm. And I admit I am sensitive to Obama supporters expressing anti-women sentiments cloaked as anti-Hillary. I have seen enough of them defending Shuster after his “pimping” comment that, at least, in my eyes they lost the right to be presumed innocent…
March 3, 2008 4:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
How can someone who's moniker is
In-Your-Face-Peace-Seeker
not give benefit of the doubt to sarcasm?
You are hardly consistent!
But I do enjoy life's little ironies whenever I find them.
Continue to enjoy your righteousness on the Schuster "pimping comment" -- I'm surprised it doesn't make you more sensitive to *any* malicious comment, but I guess it's only about the ones *you* care about.
Which, again, was the point of my post.
March 3, 2008 4:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess you really don't understand some of the fundamentals of the US Constitution. Impressive.
You said you were a Hillary Clinton supporter?
March 3, 2008 4:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Clearthinker,
There's a difference between a court of law and simple observation. No, I don't have to presume an asshole comment is innocent. And the PMS comment is truly an asshole comment.
Only Rush "Obama the Magic Negro" matched this type of ugly crap against Obama this election, and nobody I say defended him for it.
But for Hillary, even "progressives" think this is okay.
March 3, 2008 4:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
And perhaps you missed the Sports Illustrated cards that dressed all the male candidates up as sports heroes and Hillary up as a bimbo fan in hot pants.
Or the two Washington Post articles on Hillary's cleavage.
Or the endless speculation that she's sleeping with one of her campaign aides and the NY Times front page 2000 word article on how Bill and Hillary aren't spending a lot of time together (nudge nudge wink wink).
No, these aren't Saturday Night Live - this is your "serious" press at work. So go ahead and bitch about a cartoon and some of us will still mock you. By the way, where *IS* Jesse Jackson this election? I saw his son and Obama were "pimping" him in South Carolina (I assume I can say this, you referenced it), but haven't heard word of him since Bill Clinton mentioned his name as well.
March 3, 2008 5:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Do try to keep up. Jesse did several minutes with MSNBC evaluating the last debate.
March 3, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Several whole minutes!!! Whooo Hoooo!!!!!
March 3, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
SNL crossed the line this time with their blatant racism. It wasn't just the cartoon.
The entire show seemed devoted to stereotyping blacks as ghettoized and stupid, including Obama.
In the opening debate skit, they tried to accomplish two things:
1)Make him look INarticulate, passive, and stupid, and
2) Cast doubt about his integrity with the campaign federal funding question.
Then of course, the cartoon was so over the top on so many levels, that I can't even remember them all - marginalizing Obama as the *black* who's not really the black candidate because see folks - he wants to distance himself from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. And was the image of Michelle throwing up designed to give yet one more not so subliminal message?
And speaking of subliminal messages - Hillary sitting at the desk of an oval office set looking all presidential?
Feh!
March 3, 2008 9:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh and thank you for this piece and pointing out the double standards. Can you just imagine the outrage if any of your possible skits were played?!
Very sad.
March 3, 2008 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I can imagine the reaction - pretty much the same reaction we've had for the last 15 years when SNL has skewered the Clintons - nothing.
March 3, 2008 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't see the SNL cartoon myself, but it sounds pretty offensive. If a similarly piece, using gender as a basis was done about Clinton I sure I would find it offensive as well.
Some of us are open to being offended by comedy about either candidate regardless of whom we support. And we can also laugh about either candidate when the comedy doesn't offend us.
As an Obama supporter I want to make it clear that I am not offended only when Obama is unfairly attacked in the media. For example, Russert, at the last debate, struck me as idiotic when he posed certain questions to both Obama and Clinton.
March 3, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
So what's the point of this sexist and piggish recommended post? That it's OK to be a sexist swine because the poster was offended by something on television?
Another faux uniter and not divider I say. I am becoming more and more convinced that, if Senator Obama can manage to squeak this thing out, it will take mature Democrats like yours truly (an admitted loyal supporter of HRC) and BevD to bring this one home for the Democrats.
This is yet another disgusting and sexist post by an alleged progressive and he or she thinks it's OK because of what somebody did on TV. Oh my. I would ask the poster if this is the type of logic that he or she teaches his or her children. Because, at best, this post is eminently childish.
March 3, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Logic takes a holiday...
March 3, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I repeat a comment from my post above:
For all of those who claim my post was sexist, you've missed the point. I was showing you what the Obama cartoon might look like to someone sensitive to race as an issue.
I partially succeeded, apparently. At very least, you understood that some jokes can be funny and some are considered in poor taste. The next step is to translate those feelings on issues that aren't so much of a concern for you to find out how the other person might feel.
Another example is if one of the candidates were in a wheelchair because of polio... and the "humor" would be around his being a cripple. I don't think that would go over well with most people.
As I posted above, the NBC corporation has a website to register your thoughts on this matter.
March 3, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I partially succeeded, apparently. At very least, you understood that some jokes can be funny and some are considered in poor taste. The next step is to translate those feelings on issues that aren't so much of a concern for you to find out how the other person might feel."
Clearthinker:
Oh please. I can absolutely assure you that I need not your piggish lesson to know that some jokes can be offensive and not funny. I think you are now committing another offense, and that is that you are justifying your swine-like popular and sexist trash by presuming that you know something others don't. Get off your high horse and consider that maybe you could have made your point in a much less offensive way. Or, maybe not.
March 3, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
>>>You said you were a Hillary Clinton supporter?
The truth is my guy was dennis kucinich but I switched to Hillary when it was clear that kucinich will not make it to CA. Saying that, I will support whomever win the dem nomination as I don't see much that difference between them. Obama is not the enemy the republicans are!
March 4, 2008 1:09 AM | Reply | Permalink