Obama and Black Comedians

Obama sure knows how to throw a party.

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, comedian Wanda Sykes rolls with this series of jokes:

“Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails, so you’re saying, ‘I hope America fails,’ you’re like, ‘I don’t care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq.’ He just wants the country to fail. To me, that’s treason.

“He’s not saying anything differently than what Usama bin Laden is saying,” she continued, before addressing the guest of honor, President Obama. “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.”

While Rush has certainly painted a target on his back with his (intelligent) criticism of the Obama administration, wishing for the failure of one’s political enemies is not the same as saying that he hopes America fails. Look at it this way. Would a German citizen in the late 1930′s, who says “I hope Hitler fails” equate his statement with hoping the “Fatherland” failed? Absolutely not! As an infrequent listener to both his show and other “conservative” talk radio, it is obvious that these entertainers (notice I don’t say journalists or commentators) want what they think is best for this country. Labeling disagreement as treason is the path to re-eduaction camps.

To go further and allege, even in passing, that a citizen of this country, a member of the (loyal) opposition, is equivalent to one of the murdering rag-heads who attacked our country is unconscionable. I’m not much for political correctness, but even I recognize a bit that has gone too far.

Please don’t mistake this as an apologetic treatise on the merits of Rush Limbaugh. Frankly, I think he is too much the entertainer, and thrives too much on divisiveness to be the emergent leader that the Republican party needs. What really galls me, more than anything, is to have the leader of our country listening to such vitriolic drivel. Whether he agrees with it or not, his presence is a tacit endorsement of the words.

This Fox News article has an interesting comment from a British journalist.

An editor with Britain’s Daily Telegraph who was at the dinner wrote that liberals will 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,” wrote Toby Harnden. “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.”

He’s got it exactly right. An outsider understands the bias that exists in our media today. 

While Ms. Sykes comments are deplorable, she’s done the worst thing that she could–given Rush Limbaugh more press. He can continue to martyr himself on the altar of Ronald Reagan conservatism and increase both his efficacy and his reach. I don’t expect to see her issue an apology (although she should certainly make one). The best punishment for her would be to ignore everything she says from this point forward.