Why So Serious?

The Capitol Steps – hardly known as a front for conservative activism – perform a running gag, sending forth an appropriately frumpily dressed member of the cast to intone in a professorial monotone: "we shall now recite all of the jokes which feminists consider funny", followed by a prolonged silence.

One wonders if membership in leftist circles is contingent upon securing a humorectomy. Consider, for instance, the treatment The New Yorker – a reliably cobalt publication – received when it satirized the right’s treatment of the Obamas on its cover. The campaign of the aforementioned Messiah-presumptive responded by excluding one of the offending publication’s reporters from the European coronation celebration tour. Jeeze; lighten up; remember, like most of the media, they’re on your side.

And, now, a playful commercial by McCain, comparing Paris Hilton and Britney Spears with Obama – folks who enjoy celebrity status without having actually accomplished anything (or, in the expression of the moment, people who are famous for being famous) – produced a huge backlash from the professionally perpetually offended. It’s racist, don’t you know, to portray a black man in the same commercial with white girls.

Ah.

In the blogosphere, the usual suspects are apoplectic. One writes that the ad is "... clearly a racist ploy/play on the old ‘black man with pretty young sexy white girl’ trope.’ As OpinionJournal points out, thought, that ‘trope’ involved black man corrupting innocent white girl, and neither of the aforementioned "ladies" will be mistaken for an innocent any time soon. Were such a relationship actually to exist, "corruption" would clearly flow the other way.

And, of course, Himself plays the race card for all it’s worth – while denying that he’s doing it – noting that such ads arise only because he ‘...doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills". If, by that, he means that he lacks a powdered wig or a beard, point taken. But that’s not what he meant.

(For the overwhelming majority of the folks who intend to vote against Obama, his race makes precisely no difference; they would have been just as happy to vote against Hillairy, and for pretty much the same reasons. For a significant portion of those who intend to support him, though, his race is crucial.)

What explains this humor-deficit of the modern left? Conservatives – even "rednecks" – have no difficulty whatsoever laughing at themselves; consider Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, et al. Even George Bush pokes fun at himself, parodying his own lack of articulateness. But most leftist attempts at "humor" involve aren’t-we-superior inside-jokes about the idiocy of the president, Republican penchants for going to war, etc. And the condescending leftist audience dutifully cackles at its own erudition.

On a lark, I googled leftist humor, and came up with these gems: "I voted for Kerry and all I got was this lousy government"; "wake up and smell the coffins"; "black driver, don’t shoot". "Annoy a conservative; believe in science". Har, har, har. Oh, boy, these leftists, what a side-splitting bunch!!

But try, just try, to poke a little fun at Obama and POW, you’re a racist. Heck, if you’re even a tad niggardly in your praise, that suffices to convict you. (God forbid that you refer to the government as a "black hole"; indeed, one of the perpetually aggrieved even complained about bias in the bakery: angel’s food cake is white, devil’s food cake is black. I kid you not.) A Times correspondent referred to Obama as "well-spoken"; the auto-replace feature probably automatically deleted "articulate". Spoofing Obama’s "rock star" treatment, another writer asserts, is a "shameful attack with no basis". And the Grand High Pooh Bah of Perpetual Offendedness, Bob Herbert, informs us that the ads are "slimy" and a "gross insult".

Please.

Herbert describes the point of this ad: "It’s driving the idea that Barack Obama is somehow presumptuous, too arrogant, too big for his britches — a man who obviously does not know his place."

After a fashion, he’s right. The point of the ad was to show that Obama has no apparent qualifications for the office to which he aspires. That, like these two celebrities, he’s accorded treatment wholly divorced from any perceptible achievement. It said, in effect, he attracts the media spotlight akin to the likes of Paris Hilton, yet neither of them has done anything whatsoever to warrant the attention. Clearly, he’s the Democratic nominee for a reason having nothing at all to do with accomplishments, as he has accomplished precisely nothing.

For the humor-impaired, identity-obsessed denizens of the far left – and The New York Times, to the extent there’s a difference – a simple thought: get a life. Poking fun at Obama – making light of his matinee idol media reception while pointing out the fact that he’s never actually played a starring role – is not only completely fair, it’s wholly innocuous. If he had the slightest sense of humor himself – instead of taking himself as seriously as he apparently does – he’d turn it around, make light of it, make mock: show up at a campaign event with a sequined jacket, dark glasses, and a guitar. Like Reagan’s self deprecating joke about his age. "I knew Thomas Jefferson ..." "I will not use my opponent’s youth and inexperience...". Or Jack Kennedy’s easy use of a self-deprecating quip.

Would the "right wing attack machine" use that image? OF COURSE! (One of the first things political advisors warn candidates about is "never get photographed wearing a silly hat".) But so what? If the worst that conservatives can do is convict Obama of possessing a sense of humor, they’re dead. It’s precisely the complete lack of a sense of humor – both by Obama and his hyperventilating media lapdogs – which continues to drive the story.

C’mon, leftists, let’s put a smile on that face.