Home
In this issue
Nov. 25, 2009
Daniel Pipes: Islamism 2.0
JWisdom.com: No God … No You! Know God, Know You! with Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (8 minutes)
Nov. 24, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran : The Atheists' unintended gift
JWisdom.com: You are a Philanthropist with Aliza Bulow (5 minutes)
Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 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


Printer Friendly Version
Email this article

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

Insight (Our Columnists)

 Arnold Ahlert
 Mitch Albom
 Michael Barone
  Dave Barry
 Tony Blankley
 Andy Borowitz
 David Broder
 Stratfor Briefing
 Mona Charen
 Linda Chavez
 Ann Coulter
 Greg Crosby
 Larry Elder
 Suzanne Fields
 John Fund
 Frank J. Gaffney
 Lloyd Garver
 Jonah Goldberg
 Julia Gorin
 Jonathan Gurwitz
 Paul Greenberg
 Lewis Grossberger
 Victor Davis Hanson
 Betsy Hart
 Nat Hentoff
 David Horowitz
 Laura Ingraham
 Cheri Jacobus
Jeff Jacoby
 Paul Johnson
 Jack Kelly
 Ed Koch
 Ch. Krauthammer
 Michael Ledeen
 John Leo
 David Limbaugh
 Kathryn Lopez
 Rich Lowry
 Michelle Malkin
 Jackie Mason
 Dick Morris
 Bill O'Reilly
 Jim Mullen
 Clarence Page
 Kathleen Parker
 Dennis Prager
 Wesley Pruden
 Tom Purcell
 Jonathan Rauch
 Celia Rivenbark
 Robert Robb
 Cokie & Steve Roberts
 Pat Sajak
 Debra J. Saunders
 Culture Shlock
 Roger Simon
 Michael Smerconish
 Thomas Sowell
 Mark Steyn
 John Stossel
 Cal Thomas
 Bob Tyrrell
 Diana West
 Dave Weinbaum
 George Will
 Walter Williams
 Byron York
 Mort Zuckerman

'Toons
 Robert Arial
 Chuck Asay
 Baloo
 Chip Bok
 Dry Bones
  Lisa Benson
 John Branch
 Gary Brookins
 John Cole
 J. D. Crowe
 John Deering
 Brian Duffy
 Everything's Relative
 Mallard Fillmore
 Jake Fuller
 Bob Gorrel
 Joe Heller
 David Hitch
 Jerry Holber
 Steve Kelley
 Jeff Koterba
 Dick Locher
 Chan Lowe
 Ranan R. Lurie
 Jimmy Margulies
 Rick McKee
 Michael Ramirez
 Kevin Siers
 Jeff Stahler
 Ed Stein
 Danna Summers
 John Trever
 Gary Varvel
 Kirk Walters

Lifestyles
 How 2
 Lori Borgman
 The Savvy Consumer
 Elder matters
 Fixit
 Dr. Peter Gott
 GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
 Richard Lederer
 Tech Maven
 Every Monday Matters
 Nutrition Myths
 Bookmark These
 Bruce Williams
 How Stuff Works