# Obama's Berlin Speech and Humor **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 24, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646 "2008-07-24T19:35:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/1 "2008-07-24T19:35:05Z")
Obama’s Berlin speech was very good and inspiring, but I really wanted him to end his serious and moving speech by saying “And, following in the steps of John FitzGerald Kennedy, I want to end by stating that I am a jelly donut.” Everyone is always talking about how humorless he is. I think that would have taken care of that. All his speech would have been out there, but the Berliners were in a party mood, and I think would have loved it. The American Press would have 'splained it to those members of the public who didn’t get it. I don’t know, but I think it would have been great. I’m open to discussion. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/2 "2008-07-24T19:39:04Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Everyone is always talking about how humorless he is. [/QUOTE] They are? He seems to have a pretty good sense of humor to me. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/3 "2008-07-24T19:40:18Z")
I’ve read a lot about JFK over the years, and have seen equally-authoritative sources take different sides in the whole “ein Berliner”/jelly donut debate. But yes, it would’ve been a funny gag for Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/4 "2008-07-24T19:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Everyone is always talking about how humorless he is. [/QUOTE] Yeah, he hasn’t **once** made a joke about bombing Iran. Frankly, I think Obama was wise to steer clear of comparing himself to Kennedy. (“I knew Kennedy, and you sir…”) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/5 "2008-07-24T19:46:41Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] They are? He seems to have a pretty good sense of humor to me. [/QUOTE] The newest effort at a comic take on Obama - and the best, I guess, but so far they’re all weak coffee - is that he has no sense of humor and is totally serious at all times. I can’t think of many funny things he’s said, but the most amusing one I can think of was his comment to AIPAC- he gave a facetious description of himself based on some of the emails that have been going around, and said “Let me know if you see this guy Barack Obama, because he sounds like a scary guy.” ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/6 "2008-07-24T19:46:44Z")
I think he has a pretty good sense of humor too, but others have said he seems very humorless. I don’t think this would appear to be a serious self-comparison to JFK once he had delivered the punchline. My question here is, do you think it would have distracted too much from the content of the speech or the Presidential Image[sup]TM[/sup]? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/7 "2008-07-24T19:59:41Z")
I think the joke would get blunted in the ensuing argument over whether JFK’s audience ever actually felt his wording referred to jelly donuts. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/8 "2008-07-24T20:03:17Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] Yeah, he hasn’t **once** made a joke about bombing Iran. Frankly, I think Obama was wise to steer clear of comparing himself to Kennedy. (“I knew Kennedy, and you sir…”) [/QUOTE] Oh, I don’t know, I expect Obama will make a similarly ineffectual president. All polished speeches and good on-camera presence, but no “there” there. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/9 "2008-07-24T20:05:55Z")
He’s been funny. I like his Mitt Romney: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4pO1dIKgfPw/hqdefault.jpg "Barack Obama shocks the world!!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pO1dIKgfPw) ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/10 "2008-07-24T20:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] I think the joke would get blunted in the ensuing argument over whether JFK’s audience ever actually felt his wording referred to jelly donuts. [/QUOTE] OK, this is what I was looking for. I wondered about that. Because if I said I was a New Yorker (not that I am), no one would think I meant I was a magazine. On the other hand, the joke has been going around for years, so I think people would understand that it was meant as a joke. But the media loves raising controversy, even if it doesn’t actually exist. Bill-O in particular would have a field day, as would McCain, of course. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/11 "2008-07-24T20:27:48Z")
The jelly donut thing is a myth, anyway. At least Barack knows when to be [goofy](http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/ppotus_07_04/candidates23.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/12 "2008-07-24T20:32:53Z")
Who cares if he’s not funny? He’s running for head of state, not head clown. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/13 "2008-07-24T20:40:42Z")
He was pretty funny on his Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (NPR show) appearances, certainly better then most of their other political office holding guests. I think the “no sense of humor” thing is just his opponents throwing caricatures at the wall and hoping one of them will stick. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/14 "2008-07-24T20:48:18Z")
To me, a good sense of humor is almost synonomous with strong sanity. A person doesn’t need to be able to make jokes, but he bloody well better be able to get them. But McCain’s biggest advantage over Obama in this campaign might be that he’s spent 10 years or more ingratiating himself with the press by joking around with them. It’s clearly an element of that elusive thing we call charm. Someone doesn’t have to be a stand-up comic to be elected, but it helps if he can make a joke or two, preferably ones that don’t require a PhD to get, but also aren’t “hey, get a load of the tits on that babe” level either, like McCain’s '86 rape joke. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/15 "2008-07-24T20:53:38Z")
[QUOTE=Roderick Femm] Oh, I don’t know, I expect Obama will make a similarly ineffectual president. All polished speeches and good on-camera presence, but no “there” there. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that Cuban Missile Crisis thing was totally overrated. Not like Reagan’s speech at Brandenburg Gate!! Now THAT was action. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/16 "2008-07-24T21:37:55Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] Yeah, that Cuban Missile Crisis thing was totally overrated. [/QUOTE] We may be moving towards a more exciting replay of that: [Is Russia planning a nuclear bomber base in Cuba?](http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/13252) > [@](#): > > a respected Russian newspaper has reported, and European newspapers have followed up, that Russia is planning to fly nuclear weapons-carrying bombers in and out of Cuba. > > The claim, which allegedly comes from a top Russian Air Force official, was described as a tit-for-tat over the hugely unpopular U.S. plan to build a missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland. I thought the crisis was pretty good the first time through, but with today’s awesome special effects and CGI? WOW!!! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/17 "2008-07-24T21:41:40Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] McCain’s '86 rape joke. [/QUOTE] Do tell. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/18 "2008-07-24T21:49:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’ from 1986 > **[Tucson\_Citizen\_gorilla\_rape\_joke.pdf](https://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/images/Tucson_Citizen_gorilla_rape_joke.pdf)** I suppose the pdf might be fake, but there are some with acess to databases that could verify for us here. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/19 "2008-07-24T21:53:07Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Do tell. [/QUOTE] “Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’” > **[rumromanismrebellion.net](http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/2008/07/15/the-comedy-stylings-of-shecky-mccain/)** That’s supposedly him making that supposed joke. I’m not standing for the authenthicity of the link, but that’s what he’s allegedly said. ETA: That’ll teach me to leave my windows open for too long. That and pneumonia. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646/20 "2008-07-24T22:20:45Z")
Funny thing is I was actually hoping he’d refer to the jelly doughnut too. A native German speaking friend of mine said technically JFK did say he was a jelly doughnut. - Ich bin ein Berliner = I am a jelly doughnut (a Berliner is a kind of jelly doughnut I guess) - Ich bin Berliner = I am a Berliner (a citizen of Berlin) He also said everyone knew exactly what he meant and liked what he was saying so was not worth commenting on to them. Or so I had it explained to me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-berlin-speech-and-humor/457646.md?page=2)