Make 'Em Laugh

Over at Intellectual Takeout, Frank McAndrew laments the lack of humorous self-deprecation among politicians today.

As he sees it, presidents even up until Barack Obama were able to poke fun at themselves, an attitude which went a long way towards gaining people's support and approval. He links to what may be one of the top such moments, when Ronald Reagan opened a debate in 1984 with Walter Mondale by saying he would not make age an issue in the campaign -- he refused to exploit, for political purposes, his opponent's youth and inexperience. Since one of the knocks made against Reagan was his age, the line brought the house down -- even Mondale was laughing, although you know that inside, he was probably thinking, "Well, crap. This one's over."

I agree that Obama did poke a little fun at himself, although it didn't seem like his heart was in it. But when you're anointed -- and to a degree, self-anointed -- as a political messianic figure, sometimes it's easy to forget that you can be made fun of as well. Obviously President Trump lacks this ability, despite the statements he makes to the contrary, as McAndrew notes. Hillary Clinton may have recognized the need to sometimes make herself the object of the joke, but she lacked any skill at pulling it off.

About the only candidate in the 2020 race who seems like he may have a little humor about himself was Michael Bennet, who a couple of weeks ago promised that if we elected him we might be able to go two weeks without thinking about him while we got on with our lives. In addition to this being the correct view of the roles politicians should play, it's kind of funny.

Sure, no matter who gets elected we're going to make fun of them, and few people in the public eye deserve it more than this collection of wannabe national saviors. But it'd be nice to believe they had enough brains, self-confidence and humility to be in on the joke.