Obama Laffs

Acknowledging recent complaints that he's just too hard to satirize, Barack Obama has offered up a list of jokes about Barack Obama.

At first I thought, wow, making a list of self-deprecating jokes, that's actually a pretty hip, likable ploy.

But upon actually looking at them, the sad realization immediately hits: these aren't really jokes, just campaign talking points shoehorned in the most awkward way possible.

But on the other hand, while these fail as straightforward late-night jokes, they turn out to be hilariously dark, surreal nuggets of anticomedy. For instance:

A traveling salesman knocks on the door of a farmhouse, and much to his surprise, Barack Obama answers the door. The salesman says, "I was expecting the farmer's daughter." Barack Obama replies, "She's not here. The farm was foreclosed on because of subprime loans that are making a mockery of the American Dream."

It's as if he's ridiculing the very point of cheesy late night comedy. In a way, Obama's jokes end up as a higher, more perfect form of the same type of jokes JD and I have made in the past:

What happens when you dip the gingerbread man in milk?
I don’t know- why don’t you ask wrongfully accused prisoners of Guantanamo?

It feels weirdly in-sync with the rest of the Obama myth that, even in joke form, what he's offering simultaneously looks sweetly lame and smartly rebellious.