SNL parodies of media and Obama

Charles Krauthammers’ column on our Sunday op-ed page makes reference to the Saturday Night Live skits mocking the media’s fawning over Barack Obama. An excerpt:

    Real change has never been easy. . . . The status quo in Washington will fight. They will fight harder than ever to divide us and distract us with ads and attacks from now until November.
                — Barack Obama,
                    Pennsylvania primary
                    night speech

With that, Obama identified the new public enemy: the "distractions" foisted upon a pliable electorate by the malevolent forces of the status quo, i.e., those who might wish to see someone else become president next January. "It’s easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit for tat that consumes our politics" and "trivializes the profound issues" that face our country, he warned sternly. These must be resisted.
    Why? Because Obama understands that the real threat to his candidacy is less Hillary Clinton and John McCain than his own character and cultural attitudes. He came out of nowhere with his autobiography already written, then saw it embellished daily by the hagiographic coverage and kid-gloves questioning of a supine press. (Which is why those "Saturday Night Live" parodies were so devastatingly effective.)…

That prompted me to search for and find the skits, which I had not seen. They are funny. Not Akroyd-Belushi funny or anything, but amusing by the standards of latter-day casts. The funnier (and longer) one is the second one, at the bottom of this post.

Of course, the mockery isn’t one-sided. There’s also a funny send-up of Hillary Clinton being petulant about how Obama is treated and received. If you think that’s over-the-top, here’s a link to a real-life video in which, ironically enough, Hillary invokes the SNL skits, but only after whining in a particularly passive-aggressive manner about always having to answer the first question — acting a lot like her mimic in the skit. And I don’t think she’s kidding…

10 thoughts on “SNL parodies of media and Obama

  1. Dum Spiro Spero

    One time Hillary Clinton came to visit West Point, and gave an obligatory wave to the Corps of Cadets from the “poop deck” in the Mess Hall. I swear that in that moment I was not looking at a human being, but instead a rather masterful creation from the Jim Henson workshop. She is an evil, politically-polarizing robot. Cheers to Amy Poehler and Fred Armisen for nailing the impressions.

  2. Lee Muller

    It is unbelievable that that the media has been able to provide cover so long for both Obama and Hillary, keeping most Americans ignorant of their extensive ties to socialists, communists, terrorists and other traitors.
    But the media did the same for John Kerry, whose anti-war group was funded with $2,000,000 in unreported cash from the KGB, according to declassified FBI, KGB, and British MI records.
    And the media didn’t tell America that Ralph Nader’s campaign was run out of the Communist Party USA headquarters in New York City.

  3. Dum Spiro Spero

    Its the conspiracies Brad….the conspiracies… (as I make shifty eyes while adjusting my tin foil hat to keep the “moon rays” out of my brain).

  4. bud

    I’m going to keep a running count of the number of times Lee accuses a Democrat of being a socialist. It’s a completely empty charge, yet somehow Lee believes it carries some significance. It’s like an old man who continues to tell the same joke over and over again and believes everyone thinks it’s funny. So away we go.
    Lee Socialist Count – 1

  5. Lee Muller

    Every time anyone proposes a failed socialist program from Europe, FDR, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin or Marx, the public needs to be reminded why socialism doesn’t work for people.
    * Socialized medicine is socialist.
    * Welfare is socialist.
    * Gun control is socialist

  6. Lee Muller

    bud, take some time off and learn what socialism is, was, and did, and how much Obama has in common with Hitler and Lenin.

  7. just saying

    Lee: I assume you are being facetious and realize that one can’t equate the socialist _economic_ system with _political_ systems such as (dictatorial) communism and fascism?
    Virtually every economic system on earth today is somewhere between pure capitalism and pure socialism… and I am unaware of any pure socialist or pure capitalist system that has ever succeeded over the long haul.
    As far as communism and facism, isn’t the one traditionally thought of as being extreme left, while the other is nationalistic extreme right? Hence the criticism of the patriot act as heading down the path of facism.

  8. Lee Muller

    Communism has done a good propaganda job of convincing people that fascism is the opposite of communism, thanks to its moles in our colleges and shallow journalism.
    No one thought so in the 1930s, when Stalin and Hitler were allies. The propaganda came during World War II, when FDR and Stalin became allies. As scholars them pointed out, a fascism was the uniting of socialists with Western Progressives, so it was no wonder that the New York Times praised Hitler and Mussolini, and FDR copied their social programs, deficit spending and militarism.
    None of them worked then, and none of them will work for people now under Obama or Hillary. Socialism is a sham, a reactionary populism fighting the modern tide of individual liberty, free markets and scientific advancement.

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