What attracts me to a person is their sense of humour, particularly their ability to laugh at their own foibles. Self-deprecation is one of the most endearing and charming qualities a man/woman can have, especially those in positions of authority or celebrity. It makes one feel they are somehow a tad more human, more accessible, a little more like you and me.
Love him or hate him, George W Bush has that quality. Over the past 8 years, he has never balked at the plethora of disparaging comments, cartoons and lampoons thrown his way, and there have been many. He's even poked fun at himself, on occasion.
As we all know, celebrity invites scrutiny, and if you live in a democracy (as we do, at this point in time) you have to expect that along with the glory and praise there will be criticism, and if you can't take the heat then you need to get the heck out and find some other means of employment. Everyone in the public eye is potential fodder for comedians and late night talk show host banter, particularly those in the political arena, and the presumptive presidential candidates of our 2 major parties, McCain and Obama, are no exception. Barry Obama is proving to us, and the rest of the world, that the man has no sense of humour, whatsoever. The above cartoon in The New Yorker categorically proves that he can't take a joke. And the irony of it all- it was directed at the far right, not Obama himself. And, have we heard squat from McCain regarding the Rolling Stone cartoon above? Nope.
Do we really want a President who is so thin-skinned he can't handle a joke, or discern whether it's even directed at him to begin with? Are we going to be censored because our Commander In Chief is so insecure he can't tolerate criticism in any form?
Lighten up Barack! If you happen to get elected, you're either going to have to suffer the indignities of being made fun of, as most presidents have in the past, or go down in history as the man who forced censorship on a free country.
Hopefully it won't come to that.
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