WASHINGTON — President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday to an eclectic mix of Americans from the sciences, arts, sports, politics and human
rights, some of them household names and others who he indicated should be.
Among those honored were such iconic figures as Willie Mays, Barbra Streisand, Itzhak Perlman, James Taylor, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Stephen Sondheim and Steven Spielberg.
There was also the widow of a general who helped other survivors, and a space scientist who was a pioneer in diversity as well as the cosmos.
When a telephone rang during his description of Mr. Spielberg’s many movies, the president joked: “Somebody is calling to see if they can book him for a deal right now. They want to make a pitch.”
And then he made one of his own: “So there’s this really good-looking president,” he started.
4 comments:
Obama's humour is at once endearing and infuriating. Almost all leaders seem to have an aggrandising sense of humour, often at the expense of their opponents - but few examples are as frankly egotistic and pathetic as this.
Maybe you've been reading Catallaxy too much...
Look, he was working off the cuff, and with attempted jokes like that, they can easily read worse than how they come across in real life.
But seriously, any character flaws of Obama pale into insignificance against the dire crazy policies and (often) creepy personalities of the Republican wannabe Presidents.
It may have come across as more withering than I intended. I meant pathetic as in 'full of pathos'. There is something pathetic in that sense, of a man who has, by any measure, achieved more than enough to pad out his CV, to somehow be mugging as if he wants to be in the movies. Look, Obama is funny, there's no doubt about that, and incredibly likeable and charismatic. There's just something that doesn't feel right to me about some of his jokes.
OK, well I accept your qualification, then, seeing it was much nicer towards Obama.
As you would recall, I actually was quite unimpressed with his qualifications for the job when he was a candidate, and his "Hope and Change" line grated as distinctly Rudd-ian and unimpressive in its vagueness. But I think he has turned out much better than expected, and the ridiculous and vicious (often clearly racially motivated) attacks on him from the Right have been a real disgrace to that side of politics.
Post a Comment