President Obama: Mockable

George W. Bush was certainly mockable, and got mocked openly during his presidency and beyond.  Despite what you thought of his politics, it’s hard to deny that he was a poor communicator.  Sure, he was capable of delivering a solid speech, now and then.  But when talking without a script, hilarity often ensued.

And the world just laughed and laughed and laughed.

Even today, after he’s returned to clearing brush on his Texas ranch or whatever, people are making fun of the former president.  How many times this week, for instance, have you heard someone use the phrase “internets?”  A few, I bet.

I’m no political scientist, but I have a suspicion it’s probably not such a great idea to let your enemies define you.  It’s been my experience that enemies can sometimes be a tad unfair.

But what about Bush’s successor?  Is he also mockable?  Of course he is.  But it’ll happen a lot less often, because the mockers with the greatest influence happen to like Barack Obama; they think he’s a swell guy.  So, the stuff that would’ve earned Bush a week’s worth of brutal skewering, will be downplayed or completely ignored when it’s Obama at the helm.

To confirm that our current commander in chief is worthy of being featured at this site, however, I’ve compiled the irrefutable evidence.  Below are several hand-picked items that prove my point.  Oh, they prove it real good.

• During a campaign stop in Oregon during May of 2008, Barack Obama said the following:  “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go, Alaska and Hawaii.”

What the?  That’s some multi-faceted confusion, right there.  It reveals all sorts of new things, depending on your angle of approach.

• While campaigning in Pennsylvania, in September 2008, Obama took a question from a person in the crowd wearing a Penn State sweatshirt, and referred to the school’s mascot as the “Nitally Lions.”

Nitally??  You’re clogging on thin ice in football-obsessed Pennsylvania with that stuff.  It’s like going to the Vatican and pontificating at length about the Virgin Molly.

• While boarding a helicopter – Marine One – in February 2009, Obama waved to the crowd, turned, and slammed his head against the door.  A few days earlier he was outside the White House, and tried to re-enter through a window – which he thought was a door.

What is this, Lucy and Ethel?  What’s next, getting trapped inside a walk-in freezer?  It just goes to show, however, that well-executed slapstick never goes out of style.

• While campaigning in Bristol, Virginia, Obama said asthmatic children should be treated with a breathalyzer.  Realizing his mistake, he corrected himself and said he’d meant to say “inhalator.”

I’ve had no formal medical training, but what I think the man was trying to say was, “Ditch Witch Lungs on Demand.”

• Because of a Teleprompter mix-up in March 2009, the President reportedly delivered part of the visiting Irish Prime Minister’s speech.  And before it was over, Obama managed to thank Obama for inviting himself to the White House.

This reminds me of fourth grade, when we were each assigned a different animal and told to write a report about it.  The teacher warned us that it needed to be in our own words, and not just copied from an encyclopedia.  And when one kid (not the brightest among us) got up to read his report, he started, “The beaver, pictured at left…”

• Also in March of 2009 Obama appeared on The Tonight Show, and yukked it up about his poor bowling skills.  He told Jay Leno:  “It’s like the Special Olympics, or something!”

It’s debatable whether or not a sitting president should even appear on a comedy program, like some cheap celebrity whoring his latest cinematic shit stain.  Who was on after Obama, anyway?  Martha Rae?  Meadowlark Lemon?  Jack Hannah from the San Diego Zoo?  Yeah, I haven’t watched that show in quite a few years…

But while the wisdom of appearing is open for discussion, I’m fairly certain it’s not advisable for the President of the United States to take to the airwaves, and, for all intents and purposes, say he bowls like the retarded.  Call me a radical…

• In March 2009 again (a bad month for the prez), the British Prime Minister made a historic visit to the White House, and the two heads of state exchanged gifts, as tradition dictates.

Gordon Brown presented Obama with “a pen holder fashioned from the oak timber of HMS Gannet, a Navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Africa,” a first edition seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, and various other serious items.

And Obama gave Brown a DVD box set containing “25 great American films,” probably snagged at the last minute from the White House gift shop, or a truck stop outside Alexandria.  Later it was confirmed the discs were made for players sold in North America only, and wouldn’t even work in the UK.  How respectful!

So, there you go.  Jon Stewart and David “Remember When I Used To Be Funny?” Letterman will go easily on the President.  But make no mistake about it, Barack Obama is indeed mockable.

It’s a good thing we’re here, isn’t it?