On Extremism and Humor

Why is it we can't all have a good laugh at the expense of our so-called pillars of civic rectitude? SNL has been helping us do it for years.

Of course it's unlikely that Obama will dissolve the constitution in viva la revolucion fashion, but it sure would make a good movie. And imagining this isn't such a stretch, is it? We can all easily see (if we relinquish for a moment our staunch Obamic piety) a newly elected Hussein screaming the Guevara mantra into his inaugural microphone, donning a red baret and firing a few rounds into the sky. If this doesn't make you laugh, it should at least make you uncomfortable with the prospect, regardless of how improbable it may be.

I could easily have offered a similarly extreme perspective of Clinton or McCain, and gladly will, if it makes you feel any better about poor Obama and his "somewhat unseemly" past. Of course, if his candidacy requires so much defense, you might wonder why we should spend so much time as his sentinels in the first place.

On a more personal note, I must confess a sense of admiration for the man. It takes someone with real conviction to publicly justify his refusal of the American flag. Is the gesture arguably anti-American? Of course. Does it fit neatly into the hyperbolic profile of Obama as militant terrorist? Surely. But it also reveals him to be a thinking, analytical being with perhaps a greater agenda than making himself politically attractive. Still, it's hard to say he's worth my vote, especially considering the risks...