In reaction to the New Yorker cover contoversy, Maureen Dowd has a typically insipid, meandering, self-congratulatory piece today about Obama's supposed lack of a sense of humor:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/opinion/16dowd.html?hp

She quotes from comedians, such as Kimmel, complaining of a "weird reverse racism" going on because of their audiences' reluctance to laugh at Obama.  Apart from the fact that Maureen Dowd is the least-qualified person I know to explain what we should find funny,  
this analysis, offered by the likes of Kimmel and Leno, seems wildly off-base and speaks volumes about how insulated so-called "entertainers" are from the real world.

First, the article ignores the generational shift going on in this election, which I think explains a lot of the supposed "reluctance" to laugh at Obama.  Among those Generation Xers who have just started families, and younger voters in their 20s and those in college, who make up a large percentage of the late-night viewing audience, there is a pervasive sense that Obama "gets it" and gets us in a way that no other presidential candidate has before.  To cite just one frivolous example, his ability to "brush his shoulders off" in the middle of stump speech establishes a connection with younger voters.  Such coded allusions to pop culture, which younger people make all the time in everyday conversation, speak volumes about the kind of person Obama is and where he's coming from.  We know this guy -- he's one of our friends.  And he seems a heck of a lot cooler and in-touch than someone like Maureen Dowd or Jay Leno, who represent the old guard and old media.

Second, and more importantly, Obama has dedicated himself to public service at a time of national crisis, when America is on the brink of falling well behind the rest of the world in terms of economic development and quality of life.  These are not funny times.  There's nothing funny about our economy, the mindless and costly war in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the potential for Iran and Israel to get into a war, global warming, growing religious terrorism and extremism, the abuses of human rights being perpetrated by our own government and by others, the problems with our food quality and supply, etc., etc.  I'm not saying that Obama will solve these problems, but at least he represents a break with the past, and embodies the potential for a new generation of Americans to lead us in a new direction.  It's almost as if these comedians are complaining that Obama is not funny because he's not as shallow, irrelevant and useless as them.      

That's not to deny the real potential for a goofy excess of rigtheousness among Obama supporters.  But after 8 years of being ruled by someone who seems to take everything as a joke, including sending young Americans to die in Iraq for no reason (remember W's hilarious "where are those WMDs?" skit for the National Press Club???), I think it's refreshing to have someone running for office who takes our problems, and his responsibility, seriously.   We can laugh at him later, once he's in office.