Flourishing

We’ve delved a little into politics here at Flourishing. I wrote about James Dobson’s sort of unfair words about Barack Obama and his view of the Bible. We talked a little bit about the Jesus for President tour. In the future we might talk about some more political topics as well, who knows?

I did want to embed David Letterman’s Top Ten List from last night. Why? Well, because it marks an interesting development political comedy for election 08.

Here it is:

Until now, comedians have struggled to find a good comedic angle for Barack Obama. McCain has been made fun of for his age and for his temper (in past primary seasons).

Comedians generally look for an angle to work when parodying politicians. As noted above, McCain is the angry old man. George W Bush is the imbecile. Bill Clinton was the philanderer and the cheese-burger eating jogger.

Gerald Ford was clumsy. Bush senior was the president who lost his lunch at a state dinner. You get the picture.

I think perhaps there are two reasons that Barack Obama hasn’t really been made fun of … yet. First, he doesn’t have much of a record (as a first term senator) and, two, he’s a pretty serious guy. As the campaign rolls on (three more months folks), there will be more ammunition for comedians. For now, like Letterman, comedians will have to take their cue from the meta-narrative provided by the mainstream media, namely that Obama is so far ahead that the election is all but decided.