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Maureen Dowd and Jon Stewart: Senator Obama Has a Sense of Humor Do You?

There are worse things than being serious. Being robbed of a country that that we can be proud of is one. We are voting for Obama to restore hope and national pride, without which laughter makes no sense.
Frank Schaeffer
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Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books. Frank is a survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood

Frank Schaeffer is a New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books. Frank is a survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood
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Maureen Dowd says that Senator Obama needs to lighten up. Jon Stewart agrees. Why would anyone with a sense of humor be bothered by a mere cartoon? So what if it's a little racist, and a little tasteless, and might help right wing crazies stay in control of our country for another eight years? This is America! Everything is funny! Right?

Maureen Dowd's column -- about the Obama camp not joining in all the good-humored "fun" over the New Yorker cover -- (New York Times July 16) was one of those miserable wastes of space that even good columnists turn out on slow days. Dowd wrote: "If Obama keeps being stingy with his quips and smiles, and if the dominant perception of him is that you can't make jokes about him, it might infect his campaign with an airless quality. His humorlessness could spark humor."

Stingy? Humorless? Who has Dowd been watching? Apparently not Obama but rather the media talking about Obama, when they need to say something to keep a news cycle going, even one based wholly on nonsense.

As for Jon Stewart calling the cover of the New Yorker a mere "cartoon" that no one should get mad about, has he somehow missed the last 300 years of black American struggle against being stereotyped? Maybe Stewart felt compelled to defend his fellow humorists.

But here's the deal; a sense of humor is about knowing what is funny and what is not. Crazy people laugh all the time. Sane people only laugh at what is funny.

For the last 16 years I've been successfully writing novels for a living, often drawing on the amusing side of my fundamentalist childhood. Portofino, Zermatt and Saving Grandma have been called "laugh out loud funny" by Andre Dubus, Richard Eder and many other writers and critics. My memoir Crazy For God was hailed as amusing by Jane Smiley and generates lots of email from readers saying they laugh reading it. So maybe I know something about humor. I like humor!

I've watched just about every televised speech Senator Obama has delivered during the primary and campaign. I watched every debate. I've loved his wry sense of humor, indefatigable wit and charm. I'm a former Republican that Obama won over BECAUSE of his charm, and of course because of his ideas and character too.

As readers of my last Huffington Post blog know, I didn't think the New Yorker cover was a joke. I thought it was disgusting. But that's not my point here. My point is that this presidential race isn't about humor. It's about restoring America.

Here's a thought for Maureen Dowd and Jon Stewart: some things are serious. Here are a few examples:

  • The first black person successfully running for the presidency in our racist country,

  • The first chance that America has had in 8 years to get beyond government by fear and exchange it for leadership through hope,

  • The first opportunity our country has had to end a disastrous, unjust, stupid and unnecessary war (something I feel personally rather deeply about since my Marine son fought in that war),

  • The first opportunity we've had in 8 years to redeem America's good name around the world and therefore diminish the chances of our country being attacked, our soldiers killed and our lives being put at risk,

  • Our best chance to win the real war against our actual enemies who are hiding in Afghanistan and Pakistan, rather than continuing to be distracted by a phony war in Iraq against people who never did us harm,

  • The first chance we have had to address our huge and potentially terminal environmental problems through a president--and Democratic majority--that will actually do something to save our earth's ability to sustain life

  • The first opportunity that our country has had in our lifetimes to elect a president whose background will help us heal the racial, cultural and economic divide that has haunted us since the days of slavery, Jim Crow, lynching and legalized discrimination,

  • The best chance we've had to reform health care,

  • A chance to elect a brilliant and charismatic leader the likes of which has not been seen since FDR, who has inspired a whole new generation to step forward and is challenging them to serve our country, just as we were about to give up on altruism.

    • Barack and Michelle Obama are the most charmingly self-deprecating political figures I've seen in my lifetime. There is a human and down-to-earth quality to them. So the media line on their "humorlessness" is pure BS. But even if it were not BS, Obama is not running to provide Jon Stewart, Maureen Dowd and late night comedy writers with material. He is running to save this country.

    There are worse things than being serious. Being robbed of a country that that we can be proud of is one of those things. Being robbed of our future is another. We are voting for Obama to restore hope, decency and national pride, without which laughter makes no sense.

    Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of "CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back"

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