I'm not sure anyone could demean and cheapen the White House more than Bill and Hillary Clinton did in the 1990s.
There was a general sense the whole place needed to be fumigated after they left – carpets shampooed or replaced, linens replaced, but most of all our national psyche needed to be scrubbed to rid ourselves of the mental images the place conjured after reports of the debauchery that took place there.
But eventually the Obamas showed up.
There was Barack Obama waxing eloquent in a comedy sketch last week during the White House Correspondents dinner. He seemed disturbingly more at home telling jokes than discussing national policy. If he used a Teleprompter, he did it effectively.
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Two of his big laugh scores with the friendly media and celebrity audience were these:
- His legacy: "Michele Bachmann actually predicted I would bring about the biblical end of days. Now that's a legacy. That's big. I mean Lincoln, Washington, they didn't do that."
- His bucket list: "I am determined to make the most of every moment I have left. After the midterm elections, my advisers asked me, 'Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?' And I said, 'Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.' "Take executive action on immigration? Bucket. New climate regulations? Bucket. It's the right thing to do."
Ha-ha-ha. Hardy-har-har.
You know what else Lincoln and Washington didn't do? They didn't disgrace the office of the presidency by getting down in the cultural gutter in their speech and public appearances. They didn't scoff at the suffering of Christians around the world who, indeed, facing what is for them something resembling the Great Tribulation of the Bible. They didn't mock the religious beliefs of other Americans for a cheap laugh.
They also did not make crude jokes that rely on the substitution of the letter "B" in bucket with another letter that turns the word into an obscenity for a punchline.
That's Obama – providing another great example for children all over America.
Not only is that last joke crude, it also reveals a certain truth about Obama's attitude toward the Constitution, the law of the land and the will of the people – fundamental precepts in the guiding of the country for the last 240 years.
Quite honestly, after the Clintons and the Obamas, it will be difficult ever to think about the presidency and the White House with awe and reverence for the institutions they have represented in America for so long.
So while we're reveling in the sewer, here's another funny story I would never commit to print in a kinder, gentler age. It's actually a true story.
Several years ago, some practical joker sent me a "gift." If I recall correctly, he wanted me to help him market this product. I opened it up and it was a roll of toilet paper with Barack Obama's image on it. I forgot about until very recently when I was in a bathroom and reached for the paper. The roll was depleted. I looked in a nearby closet and found only this roll with Obama's image on it.
Oh well, I thought. It has finally found a purpose.
But when I disposed of the paper and flushed, the toilet backed up.
I thought, "Isn't that just fitting? Doesn't that just symbolize the last six years in America. And how can I tell this story – and to whom?"
I guess Obama has opened the door for me to convey a story that is in such poor taste that I would never have thought of sharing it publicly – until now.
Aren't we all so much better off for this kind of unrestrained coarseness and vulgarity?
Excuse me while I go take a shower.
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