Change we can believe in: jack and squat
I’ve finally gotten around to watching the SNL skit from last weekend in which Obama defends his record as a do-nothing president:
Partial transcript:
“There are those on the right who are angry. They think that I’m turning this great country into something that resembles the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, but that’s just not the case.
“Because when you look at my record it’s very clear what I’ve done so far, and that is nothing. Nada. Almost one year and nothing to show for it.
“You don’t believe me? You think that I’m making it up?
“Take a look at this checklist:
“On my first day in office I said I’d close Guantanamo Bay. Is it closed yet? No.
“I said we would be out of Iraq. Are we? Not the last time I checked.
“I said we’d make improvements in the war in Afghanistan. Is it better? No, I think it’s actually worse.
“How about health care reform? Hell, no.
“…Now, I just don’t see why the right is so riled up. I mean how do you think the left feels? They’re the ones who should be mad.
“Now, I’m sure they thought I would address at least one of these things by now:
“Global Warming, No.
“Immigration Reform, No.
“Gays in the Military, No.
“Limits on Executive Powers, No.
“Torture Persecutions, No.
“So looking at this list, I’m seeing two big accomplishments: jack and squat.
“And remember I can do whatever I want. I have a majority in both houses of Congress. I could make it mandatory for all gays to marry and require all cars to run on marijuana. But do I? No.”
It’s weirdly gratifying to see one’s own political opinions so perfectly reflected on national TV, which is why I decided to drag this into the lounge. Just a couple of months ago I was writing this:
In a post on healthcare last week, Bruce Dixon asked, “Why are corporate media pretending that no opinions exist to Obama’s left?”
Part of the blame lies with Republican propagandists, who — hilariously — have chosen to depict Obama as a commie pinko leftist who wants to turn the U.S. into a socialist utopia. (If only.) The charge is especially ludicrous since Obama is just about the most Republican-friendly Democrat around. Of the three major Democratic presidential candidates last year, he was easily the most conservative, and his administration has proven to be a corporatist Republican’s dream-come-true.
Obviously, I’m not the only one making this call. All but the most hardcore kool-aid junkies have gradually realized that the Obama adminstration is basically Bush’s third term. (Though of course the late-sleepers would rather stab their eyes out with a fork than acknowledge that those of us who pegged Obama as a crypto-Republican even before the election were totally right.)
The only amusement to be had in this depressing state of affairs is in watching the Republicans cling to their self-created bizarro world, in which Obama is some kind of cross between Malcom X and Mao. Over at Hot Air, for example, Allahpundit says of the SNL skit, “Mainstream comedy has actually reached the point where their big goof on Barack Obama is that he’s not liberal enough.”
Which is to say, mainstream comedy in this case is 100% accurate. What’s really frosting Allahpundit’s cookies is the idea that regular folks out there in TV land will realize it.
20 Responses to “Change we can believe in: jack and squat”
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myiq2xu says:
Meanwhile CNN felt it necessary to fact-check SNL for the first time ever.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:02 pm EST -
Violet says:
I saw that. Mind-boggling.
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yttik says:
Did anyone watch Larry king last night? The men spent most of their time trying to gang up on Michelle Bachmann and force her confess to being a birther. It was stupid and childish. She told them it was a non issue but they wouldn’t stop trying to harangue her. Anyway King had Hill Hunter on, he’s cute, he’s smart, but I was grimly fascinated watching him try to contort himself into a position of support for Obama’s “progress”. In response to the SNL skit he said, “….sometimes people confuse movement with progress. And I think President Obama is about progress and not just about showing that things are moving here and there.”
It’s been 24 hours and I’m still trying figure out how you can have progress without movement. The whole definition of progress is “movement”, as in “to advance towards a goal”. Apparently Obama has discovered that movement can be accomplished by standing completely still. I’m fascinated. It’s like some law of physics I’ve never heard of.
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Violet says:
Larry King vs. Michelle Bachmann = Battle of the Twits. Too much twittery for me.
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yttik says:
It was like being paralyzed into watching a train wreck. You want to look away but you just can’t. And obviously I’m still traumatized because the guy I was thinking of was Hill Harper, not Hunter. Sorry.
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JeanLouise says:
I wonder why Fred Armisen didn’t do his best impersonation of Obama? Could it be that he was not in agreement with the tenor of the piece?
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Aspen says:
I’m sure many of you read The Onion headline:
BREAKING: Democrats Hoping To Take Control Of Congress From Republican Minority In 2010
– it goes well with this clip.
Sorry if it has been posted here already.
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Violet says:
I wonder why Fred Armisen didn’t do his best impersonation of Obama?
Are you sure he can do better?
Aspen — no, I hadn’t seen that yet. Too perfect.
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Grace says:
Violet, Fred Armisen was able at least to somehow imitate Obama’s cadence and tone of voice in past impersonations, such as during the primaries. I think that there still may be a fear among comedians of being accused of racism or of playing up to the right-wing’s agenda if they started paroding Obama more aggressively, like they have done with all the other presidents and politicians. And SNL is not an exception, in my opinion.
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yttik says:
Apparently SNL got their marching orders about who they are allowed to mock because Tina Fey has just announced she’s going to bring her Sarah Palin character back.
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monchichipox says:
Fact checking an SNL skit? I almost feel sorry for Obama. It’s quite clear he really is in over his head and already looks like he can’t stand the job. Any excuse to leave and give a speech and he’s out of Dodge. Pretty soon I half expect him to show up at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Piggly Wiggly store opening up in Florida. Mayhaps a rousing speech on their fresh produce section?
It’s become obvious he’s not even ready for an 11AM phone call.
It’s strange. I have talked with a couple of friends who have the same opinion of Obama as I do and they are betting he doesn’t run again. Well just yesterday I had an Obamaholic say the same thing to me.
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gxm17 says:
I don’t know what’s funnier, the skit or CNN fact checking it.
And why on earth would Tina Fey bring back SP? Perhaps it has something to do with monchichipox’s observation that The Great Zero may not run in 2012. It all fits my theory that Zero was set up as a placeholder for Jeb. Bush 2012. BO’s term won’t even count as an interruption in the Bush dynasty. All they have to do is get that pesky commoner Sarah out of the way.
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octogalore says:
The interesting thing about Obama is that he’s disappointed those who hoped he would be more socially liberal and also those who hoped he would be more fiscally conservative, or both (hi). The skit doesn’t talk about economic policy. That’s why you have people saying he’s either too liberal or too conservative, and how both can be right at the same time. Of course, the HotAir folks are socially conservative, so to be intellectually honest they should admit that Obama’s closer to their end of that spectrum than anticipated, on social issues.
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Jeff says:
It should be impossible to have a perfect record of incompetence, but there it is.
Pick any issue. Is it currently in limbo, both sides frothing, fear and uncertainty stuck in steady-state? What if the goal IS chaos? Then I would say our current government is exactly as good as their resume.
Confidence ‘Crisis’ on demand. Where could there possibly be an ego big enough to step in and save us?
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bruce nahin says:
If Tina Fey brings back Sarah, I wonder if CNN will do fact checks there too- or just engage in sexism as it did in the past- How many people realize that it was Tina Fey not Sara Palin who said she could see Russia from her porch? Were was CNN then? Clearing the record as to What Gov Palin really said( which was in essence that Alaska borders Russia and as governor she has had trade issues and the like to deal with- which she offered as evidence of her foreign affairs experiences). Curiously CNN was silent- but then again “Palin was a woman” so what do you expect
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parallel says:
Unbelievably (or maybe not unbelievable really) - he’s now been annointed with the Nobel Peace prize.
Check out the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wor.....298689.stm
He’s created a “vision” and a “climate” apparantly. So there we go.
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Nell says:
President Jack Squat wins the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought it was a headline from The Onion when I first heard it.
Welcome to the Parallel Universe.
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votermom says:
It’s become obvious he’s not even ready for an 11AM phone call.
LOL.
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myiq2xu says:
Nobel Peace Prize?
WTF?
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