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Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 30, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality
Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America
Oct. 29, 2009
Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity?
JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 28, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland
JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes)
Oct. 27, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static
JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 26, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist
JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 23, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure?
JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us
Oct. 22, 2009
Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans
JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes)
Oct. 21, 2009
Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies'
JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 20, 2009
Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President
JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes)
Oct. 19, 2009
JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes)
Oct. 16, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number
JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost
Oct. 15, 2009
Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process'
JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review May 15, 2009 / 21 Iyar 5769

What Makes Obama Laugh

By Greg Crosby


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I've been accused of being grumpy. I don't feel grumpy. I don't try to be grumpy. I don't think I look grumpy. But every now and them something will happen in the news that will get my blood going. If I don't like that certain something then I'll say so. I'll say so loud and clear. Does that make me grumpy? I don't know. As the saying goes, I'll report and you decide.


Every week for variety I try to change the subject of my column. Last week I wrote about President Obama so this week I'm going to write about something different. No, wait…I have to write about Obama AGAIN. I can't help it because I can't believe what transpired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this week. It's a new low for the office of president of the United States (and after Bill Clinton's Monica scandal, that's saying a lot). Here's what happened.


In the past, the annual press dinner usually makes good natured fun of a variety of prominent people, the president included. But this year, nobody was making jokes at the expense of Obama. Far from it. Being the media darling that he is, he is totally immune to being made fun of. Instead, nasty shots were taken at radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh.


Liberal Comedienne Wanda Sykes launched into a hateful diatribe, accusing Limbaugh of treason, comparing him to Osama bin Laden and wishing for his physical collapse as she roasted the favorite target of liberals Saturday night at the Washington Hilton. (Why do I think it's important to describe her as a liberal woman? Because of the double standard. If a conservative man had made the same comments against a liberal woman he would be run out of town on a rail.)


"Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails … to me, that's treason. He's not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying," Sykes said. Then she looked across the dais over at Obama and continued, "You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker….but he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight." The crowd groaned, Obama laughed.


"Rush Limbaugh, 'I hope the country fails' -- I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? ... He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs." Obama then threw his head back and joined the crowd in laughing at the crack about Limbaugh's "kidneys." Laughing at the idea of Limbaugh dying. Nice, huh? Who says this president doesn't have a sense of humor?


Wanda Sykes' comments were crude, not funny, and way over the line of good taste, but for me that wasn't the worst part of this story. The worst thing about it was the reaction of Obama - laughing along with the press when the woman says, "I hope Rush Limbaugh dies." It's bad enough for anyone to laugh at stuff like that, but for the president of the United States to think its real funny? How disgusting and low. And to top it off, he has no qualms about throwing his head back and displaying his approval over that "humor" in public. What a classy guy.


Toby Harnden, an editor with Britain's Daily Telegraph who was at the dinner wrote that liberals will undoubtedly give Sykes a pass, since her target was a right-wing talk show host. And he marveled at Obama's response. "That's way, way beyond reasoned debate or comedy and Obama's reaction to it was astonishing," he wrote. "Imagine if a comedian 'joked' that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would justifiably be an outcry."


If you think I'm making too big a deal out of this then think again. I believe the dignity and decorum of the office of president is worthy of making a big deal out of it. How Obama reacted that evening is very telling. An incident like this can give you insight into a person's true self.


So what was my column going to be about if I didn't write about this? I was going to write about what it feels like to be thought of as Grumpy when really down deep in my heart I'm really Happy, Bashful, and Sleepy. And if you ask my wife, she'll tell you that sometimes I can be a little Dopey too. And, yeah, okay, I can be Grumpy. Wow. Interesting how my entire persona can be summed up by a gang of fairytale cartoon characters. Heigh-Ho.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.

Greg Crosby Archives

© 2008, Greg Crosby

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