Lighten Up, America

I am not referring to the color of peoples' skin, I am referring to the thickness of it. The president-elect made a small joke about Nancy Reagan having séances in the White House and maybe he got a little mixed up about having séances instead of consulting astrologers, but so effing what? Immediately after he finished, the Sean Hannitys of the world started to beat him up and finally I see he had to call Mrs. Reagan to apologize. Please Mr. President-Elect, don't let whatever sense of humor you possess be beaten out of you this early. This is what we need. John F. Kennedy had it, and it was before the Internet when you could actually make off-the-cuff remarks without having to apologize to every Tom, Dick and Nancy. This is another of the many dangers of the Internet, it makes people in high places turn into machines, the very thing we want out of our lives. (But that is another blog altogether.)

We want a real live breathing human, who can talk to us, occasionally make us laugh a little, and God forbid insult someone. And by the way, I've met Nancy Reagan several times and she seemed to have a fine sense of humor and probably was the last person on earth offended by this. I am sorry he was bullied into calling her. That kind of comment does not warrant an apology. And I hope -- I hope -- this is not the beginning of the robotization of Barack Obama. Go ahead, Mr. President-Elect, be who you are. That is the reason we voted for you. Don't let them, on the day of your first press conference, turn you into what we are so grateful to have finally gotten rid of. You were great today.

Comments

[RonCanada]

Amen, Mr Brooks.

[a567and8]

Yes, Albert Brooks! Yes, Barack Obama, an offhand little joke is no reason to go all politically sensitive on us! Please! Be who you are! When you were on the campaign trail I often marvelled at how the You of you came through whether you were recycling the stump speech or taking on a new challenge, the race speech, or debating a man in great pain. Each time I heard and saw you I felt a human connection, not because you're such a great orator--there are a few bumps there, as a matter of fact--but because you have a direct manner, are much more honest than most politicians and are aesthetically light years above and beyond them. Yes, aesthetically. THAT'S why we elected you. We could feel your humanity, see your frailty, be encouraged by your strength, be moved by your emotions. Yes, we voted for you because you made us feel good. Feel good, that is about living! The processed John McCain and the born-processed Sarah Palin only reminded us of the intellectual and spiritual death of Bush/Cheney/et al. Be your own man, Barack. We love you and pray for you! Hang in, personally!!

[taxi69]

George Bush owes his elite Yale/Harvard education an apology.

Thank God Obama is an intelligent example of a Harvard education; Otherwise, I would question sending my child (if I could afford to send him) to such a school.

[ondamony]

I think George Bush owes the english language an apology for his years of abusing it.

[SouthernIL]

Kudo's to your statement!!!! LOL.....

[iusedtocare]

Mr. Brooks is one of my favorite comedians. But politicians or presidents should not be comedians, especially when their humor is at the expense of someone else. Obama's remark was graceless and unseemly just as his, "you're likable enough, Hillary," remark was. But - then again - what can you expect from someone who lied about accepting public campaign financing?

[upshurquinby]

Please. What does your last sentence have to do with the rest of your comments (which, by the way, are graceless and unseemly)? It is wonderful to have a president who exhibits humanity and humor. What a breath of fresh air!

[iusedtocare]

Here's the quote:
November 2007, Obama answered "Yes" to Common Cause when asked "If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?"

Obama wrote: "In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

A lie is a lie no matter how you try to sugar coat it. And - BTW - I did not vote for McCain, either. Obama also lied about FISA, paraded all around Wisconsin with Feingold (who has integrity) said he was proud to stand with Senator Feingold, etc. and then did whatever worked best for him.

Sounds as if you think that anything Obama says - no matter how cruel and inappropriate - is just fine.

[mrfreedomx]

man i love being in this new role... it's so much more fun to be able to support the president (elect), now i get to see how ridiculous and amusing i must have seemed to people like you who supported ol Texas ranger GWB, watching me squirm and pissss and moan all the time about every minute detail of his public existence

[SouthernIL]

OMG! Get a grip! Graceless? Lies? you say! Check out the McCain-Palin scripts! That will give you plenty of gracelessness and lies.....a­nd at who's expense!

[lisalovesamelie]

OMG, Let it go! Oh no, He "lied" about taking public financing. Please, if McCain knew he could make hand over fist by doing the same thing then he would have. He was sour because he knew he would get creamed on the amount Obama would be getting. Poor babies. wahhh

[AZ4thatone]

Saying that he "lied about taking public financing" is GOP rhetoric. He didn't lie. He changed his mind. He initially said he wouldn't take public financing, then said he would and he did it before the race started. The GOP could have done the same. Lets not confuse the issue. A lie would be, mmm, like saying there are WMD's in Iraq and waging war on them when you have no evidence of it. Now THAT is a lie.

[LollieDotCom]

One more thing.... he didn't make a small joke. He made a small gaffe. I really don't think he was writing out notes the night before thinking, "Oh yeah, they're gonna roll in the isles when I make this Reagan seance joke!" I think he was exhausted and made a small gaffe.

[upshurquinby]

Watch the conference again. He made a small mistake, yes....Nan­cy consulted astrologers, she didn't have seances (at least as far as we know, lol). But he clearly intended to make a joke.....h­e he did, successfully. Hurray! We have a human for president!

[moonbay]

Hear, Hear! Obama has a sense of humor. Nancy has a sense of humor. Much of America has a sense of humor. Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh do NOT have a sense of humor. We will all find moments in the next 8 years to enjoy light moments with our new president. The 3 above, will continue to snarl and whine and complain. Let's all compare laugh lines and frown lines in 8 years and see who looks better.

[obelus]

I don't think of what Obama said as a joke at all. Of course there are seances in the White House. A stray Lincoln boy wanders about, there are doors opening an closing unexpectedly (Nixon), some jarring bumps in the night (Ford), Grover Cleveland still occasionally takes a nighttime snack in the mess, and then leaves one. It's hard sometimes to get anything done, I hear. Many don't. This President will.

God bless Obama.

[Ettelr]

Albert is right. If somone's not serious, it doesn't make sense to take their comments seriously. The mock hurt and offense that they attempted against Obama early in the campaign (lipstick on a pig), didn't work then, and won't work now. It really says more about them than it does about Obama.

[josephjsalas]

Let's see. We wanted to get rid of Bush's Patriot Act, PA II, PA III (protect america act),PA IV
(HR 1955), PA V ( department of homeland security..­U.N.), wiretaps (chips) and so on.
We also wanted to get rid of NAFTA in favor of the UAW. We wanted to get rid of fear mongering,
And here we are talking about stem cells and oil rigs. Yep! We re-elected Bush.

[combatveteran]

I hope to see Hannity's apologies to Mr Obama soon. Right!

[steveward14]

I think there will be plenty of lighter Obama moments in the months and years to come. The Nancy Reagan thing, though funny, was probably ill advised. Better to have gone with Nixon talking to the paintings - at least we're used to kicking him around. For now, I just want Obama to concentrate on fixing the economy and getting a handle on health care. He can leave the jokes to the pros...lik­e say, Albert Brooks.

P.S. We wanted to see more of you on Weeds!

[coveark]

You are absolutely right and the Mutt bit was very funny too!!

[BigHeadTodd]

Woo hoo. I prefer to look forward to an intelligent, thoughtful president who makes a nonsensical joke rather than look back at the past eight years of a president who IS a joke.

[neoconumb]

I think Barack is being himself by apologizing - he probably would have done this anyway - it's just that now he has to let everyone know that he's apologizing. This is one of the things Barack supporters like about him - he can apologize, unlike previous and very recent leaders. I also don't think Barack will lose his sense of humor over this.

I think the real story here is how the MSM makes this a story of such magnitude. The way they covered this, you'd think that this might be a talking point against him for the next election - which it surely won't be. It really isn't news and it isn't worth covering.

[applehead]

if a three hundred pound piano starts to fall on your head -- do you get out of the way, SOMETIMES? remember that great advice? he did the smart thing to apologize. he could have waited a week while even the pro Obama media began to descend on him like vultures. and how can calling an elderly lady for a nice chat not be a nice thing? i agree, he should be himself, and be funny when the opportunity rises. and it was a good joke, getting the media to talk about he astrologer thing, and the hillary/elenore thing --- did they mention the dan akroyed/nixon skit when he as talking to the dead presidents on the wall? that was hysterical. But sense of humor aide, we are poised, barring some horrible circumstance, to spend the next eight years watching the greatest president since benjamin frankln (if he HAD been president) making this country the country it should have been from the very beginning but never quite got the chance to become, what with one thing or another. And its our job to mock to scorn the limbaughs and hannitys and o’riellys of the country.