Post Barack Obamaa Jokes

Cafe Society
41

[QUOTE=Shodan]
This is about as close to a joke as the Obama supporters will permit.
[/QUOTE]

The sad truth is that political passion just doesn’t mix with a sense of humor. (What was it Bill Murray’s character said in Cradle Will Rock? "Reds aren’t funny people?) I thought Weirddave’s joke was the best in the thread - no offense, Argent Towers, you showed some real creativity but that’s just not the kind of joke I like most. When the Daily Show suggested a few weeks ago that Obama was running not for President, but for (commemorative) Coin, I thought that was pretty funny. Obama is not above being the object of jokes.

42

[QUOTE=sciurophobic]
How many Barack Obamas does it take to change a light bulb?

Nobody knows. As soon as he hears the word “change” he starts talking and won’t shut up.
[/QUOTE]

Oooh, can I revise?

“How many Obama supporters does it take to change a light bulb?”
“None. They light up as soon as they hear the word ‘change.’”

43

It’s tough, isn’t it? I read an article a couple of days ago about how late night shows were having a hard time writing jokes about Obama, not because of any partisan sympathy but because he just doesn’t offer much in the way of any inherently funny takes or angles. McCain doesn’t offer much either, though, other than crazy old man jokes. Clinton and Bush were goldmines for comedy writers, Obama and McCain are a couple of gravel pits.

44

[QUOTE=sciurophobic]
How many Barack Obamas does it take to change a light bulb?

Nobody knows. As soon as he hears the word “change” he starts talking and won’t shut up.
[/QUOTE]
Okay, that’s funny.

45

And you could argue, as Stewart did, that this isn’t a bad thing for the country. Even Colbert’s jokes about McCain are mostly “he’s old,” although at least the jokes tend to be so bizarre that he’s getting close to mocking ‘McCain is old’ jokes. He’s done some good stuff about McCain being boring and reversing many of his positions for the election, but the main source of humor about Obama right now is about the reaction to him - not the man himself. (Link here.) I don’t think race has much to do with it exactly - it’s that Obama comes across as something unfamiliar and they aren’t sure what to do with it. Bill Clinton was a pretty fresh face in 1992, but the country seems to have settled into redneck trailer-trash “this guy is an idiot” jokes fast enough.

46

I miss Bill. I miss Bill. He was a cool guy. Had his mind in the gutter way too much. I mean, a cigar goes where? Now, Obama, he’s never had his mind in the gutter. You can tell, he bowled a 36.

Or, how about Obama Dozens?

Obama so clean, when someone calls him a funky brother, he takes a bath.

47

[QUOTE=Marley23]
I thought Weirddave’s joke was the best in the thread
[/QUOTE]
I’ve got to agree - it’s a clever take on an old formula, and exaggerates Obama’s relatively left-leaning political stance in a teasing comedic fashion.

48

In a tragic accident during the campaign, Michelle Obama was in a car accident, and descended in a coma while on life support at the hospital. It had been weeks since there was any visual source of life. Nevertheless, under extreme personal duress, Barack continued his campaign.

One day, he goes to visit his wife. When he arrives, the nurse says to him, “the strangest thing happened today. I gave your wife a sponge bath, and when I sponged her private parts, her vital signs showed an increase of activity on the monitor. I was wondering - this is awkward - if maybe you could try having oral sex with her, to see if this improves her condition.”

Barack is dubious, but the nurse seems genuine, and she assures him the curtains will be drawn around the bed for total privacy. A while later, the he flings back the curtains, and there is Michelle, lying dead.

“What happened???”, asks the horrified nurse.

“Dunno”, says Barack, “Maybe she choked.”

49

[QUOTE=Marley23]
(Link here.)
[/QUOTE]
Interesting article. I like the last sentence:

I think, besides Obama’s straight-lacedness, race, and unfamiliarity, a lot of these guys want him in office, so they don’t want to tear him up too badly. It would be unprofessional to admit as much, though. Obama’s also highly concerned about image while he’s campaigning, so things are a little tense right now. If/when he’s elected, I imagine the atmosphere will be more relaxed. He won’t need to denounce and reject bad publicity, and he’ll become the guy in office, so it’ll be easier to make fun of him.

I’m interested to see how Lewis Black handles him. He’s happily cussed out both Clinton and Bush, and pointed out in his latest Bush rant that it’s not that he hates Bush personally, but his problem is with authority in general. It’ll be fun to see if he goes on one of his rants against Obama when he’s in office.

50

[QUOTE=Sinaijon]
In a tragic accident during the campaign, Michelle Obama was in a car accident, and descended in a coma while on life support at the hospital. It had been weeks since there was any visual source of life. Nevertheless, under extreme personal duress, Barack continued his campaign.

One day, he goes to visit his wife. When he arrives, the nurse says to him, “the strangest thing happened today. I gave your wife a sponge bath, and when I sponged her private parts, her vital signs showed an increase of activity on the monitor. I was wondering - this is awkward - if maybe you could try having oral sex with her, to see if this improves her condition.”

Barack is dubious, but the nurse seems genuine, and she assures him the curtains will be drawn around the bed for total privacy. A while later, the he flings back the curtains, and there is Michelle, lying dead.

“What happened???”, asks the horrified nurse.

“Dunno”, says Barack, “Maybe she choked.”
[/QUOTE]
See now, that’'s funny, but it isn’t aimed at anything specific about Obama. For it to be really funny, it would need to be about some particular foible that everyone would recognize applied especially to Obama. There isn’t anything they have seized on with BO, like they have with “old” jokes about McCain.

I think it is a combination of “hands off the black guy”, the fact that Obama is likeable, the MSM wants him to win, and the fact that the Obamaniacs are going to go ballistic at anything. Witness the hissy fits over the New Yorker cover.

No kidding. Some people are complaining about Weidrddave’s joke anyway. Possibly because it was funny.

One of the great things about Reagan was that he could tell a joke on himself and make it work, and therefore get away with doing it in other contexts and be clear that he was not being nasty. Remember his crack during the second debate with Mondale? There was concern because he looked old in the first debate. A reporter asked him about it at the start of the second debate. The Gipper said with his usual twinkle, “I have not brought up the subject of age in this campaign. I don’t want to take advantage of my opponent’s youth, and inexperience.” He got a huge laugh, and the election was essentially over.

I wonder if Obama will ever reach the point of being able to joke about himself. It might help him. He seems so serious, I am sort of afraid he will burn himself out.

Regards,
Shodan

51

What’s the difference between Barack Obama and a bum?

One keeps asking for change, and the other’s Barack Obama. (Or is “and the other’s a bum” funnier?)

52

[QUOTE=mobo85]
What’s the difference between Barack Obama and a bum?

One keeps asking for change, and the other’s Barack Obama. (Or is “and the other’s a bum” funnier?)
[/QUOTE]

The latter is better. I think you’re onto something here, but I think I can help craft it a little better. I think you need at least one other “bum-like” quality which could be applied to Obama.

Try this:
What’s the difference between a bum and Barack Obama?

One is a hustler asking you for change and the other is a homeless guy.

53

[QUOTE=Shodan]
Some people are complaining about Weidrddave’s joke anyway. Possibly because it was funny.
[/QUOTE]

No. This is worth examining.

When I first looked at Weirddave’s joke, I didn’t get it. I had to think it through to try to figure out what it might mean.

Red doesn’t mean Marxist or even Socialist. It means Communist to virtually everyone, sanctioned by virtually a century of popular usage. Communism died 20 years ago, no matter what few remnants may be hanging on by their fingernails. Nobody has been referred to as a Communist in decades.

A joke, to be a true funny joke, has to be immediately accessible to people on all ends of the political spectrum. People on the left don’t ever think of Obama as a Communist. The term never enters their head. They don’t think of him of a Marxist or a Socialist. Factually speaking, wanting to put a higher marginal tax rate on the rich is not Communism, Marxism, or Socialism. (For one thing, it does not redistribute wealth to the poor: it gives the government more income. No economist would ever use that as a definition of wealth redistribution.)

That certain people on the right can think of a centrist politician like Obama as a “red” says some interesting things about their political viewpoint, but it’s simply incomprehensible to anyone else. If you have to stop and think about what in the world a joke is supposed to be saying, then it’s not a joke. As I said before, it’s a commentary on the right. You may indeed find it funny, but then it’s at best an in-joke, something that a small group of people with common experience find funny but which baffles everyone else.

That’s why the joke is getting the reaction it’s getting here. Nobody else thinks like you. Clinton’s horniness or Bush’s fumblemouth is a universal, based on some underlying truth understandable to all. Obama as a red? That’s a “huh?” And not funny.

54

McCain’s grumpiness has some truth value too. It’s hard to find a good handle like that for obama, but something will probably emerge sooner or later.

55

That’s pretty good! You can also try

“One is a shameless hustler who never worked a day in his life who pesters you for change. The other is homeless.”

Dropping the “guy” on the end shortens up the punch line and gives it more impact, and adding more perjorative stuff at the beginning builds up tension. It’s like all the lawyer jokes about “what is the difference between a lawyer and a catfish? One is a slimy, disgusting bottom-feeder. The other has fins.”

YMMV.

Well, if you think that, then you won’t find the joke funny. Do you really need a cite that people talk about Socialists and Communists as “reds”? Come on.

But you are correct. If you have to think about it too much, it isn’t funny.

But it is funny. Obama is black and white (mulatto) and red (quite liberal). It’s a creative take on an old joke. And, to be frank, the fact that certain posters deny that it is funny is a pretty good indication that it is. Political jokes are usually meant to score against the other side. And another thing that Reagan said was “if you throw a brick at a pack of dogs, the one who yelps the loudest is the one you hit.”

Regards,
Shodan

56

[QUOTE=Sinaijon]
In a tragic accident during the campaign, Michelle Obama was in a car accident, and descended in a coma while on life support at the hospital. It had been weeks since there was any visual source of life. Nevertheless, under extreme personal duress, Barack continued his campaign.

One day, he goes to visit his wife. When he arrives, the nurse says to him, “the strangest thing happened today. I gave your wife a sponge bath, and when I sponged her private parts, her vital signs showed an increase of activity on the monitor. I was wondering - this is awkward - if maybe you could try having oral sex with her, to see if this improves her condition.”

Barack is dubious, but the nurse seems genuine, and she assures him the curtains will be drawn around the bed for total privacy. A while later, the he flings back the curtains, and there is Michelle, lying dead.

“What happened???”, asks the horrified nurse.

“Dunno”, says Barack, “Maybe she choked.”
[/QUOTE]

See, that’s funny, but it’s not Obama-specific; it would work just as well with any married man, real or imaginary.

57

[QUOTE=Shodan]
But it is funny. Obama is black and white (mulatto) and red (quite liberal).
[/QUOTE]

:confused: “Red” might mean “Communist” or (in the “Red State-Blue State” context) “Republican,” but it never means “quite liberal.” (Except when used by persons trying to obscure the difference between liberals and Communists, and the less said of or heard from them, the better.)

58

[QUOTE=BrainGlutton]
:confused: “Red” might mean “Communist” or (in the “Red State-Blue State” context) “Republican,” but it never means “quite liberal.” (Except when used by persons trying to obscure the difference between liberals and Communists, and the less said of or heard from them, the better.)
[/QUOTE]

No, it does sometimes mean that, but it’s so unusual that it immediately focuses attention on the joke-teller. It’s as if “brown” had been used as shorthand for Nazis back in the 1940s, and there were a joke referring to McCain as brown.

It was clever wordplay, certainly. But the distraction of thinking, “where the hell is this jokester coming from?” is a bit much. Told in a context that’s mocking John Birchers, the distraction becomes the punchline.

The jokes about lightbulbs and about bums are both pretty funny: they mock Obama for the change mantra. Good satire strikes its target. Shodan’s addition of “never worked a day in his life,” however, returns it to the baffling category: how on earth does this by any stretch of the imagination resemble a remotely accurate criticism of Obama? Leave it out to avoid such distractions.

The Reagan quote about throwing rocks at a pack of dogs is far overused by incompetent satirists who substitute ignorant insults for shrewd satire. The hit dog will also yelp if you fling a handful of shit at it, to stretch the metaphor.

Daniel

59

Woof woof!

Regards,
Shodan

60

[QUOTE=Shodan]
This is about as close to a joke as the Obama supporters will permit.

Regards,
Shodan
[/QUOTE]

I’m an Obama supporter, fairly passionate, and I thought the joke Marley mentioned from the Daily show was funny when I saw it, (and TDS jokes about him fairly regularly BTW though it’s clear he’s their favored candidate), and also, in fact, the jokes cited in the OP of this thread had me laughing out loud.

-FrL-