EXCEPT THAT THE UR ISN'T THE BUTT OF THE JOKES...:

Jon Stewart's Obama barbs on 'The Daily Show' are creating buzz (Howard Kurtz, 2/01/10, Washington Post )

Last week, though, the president was the punch line. After showing video of Obama speaking to schoolkids, the "Daily Show" host said in amazement: "You set up a presidential podium and a teleprompter in a sixth-grade classroom? . . . I'm not a political adviser, campaign strategist, et cetera, but that's not a great photo op in a middle school classroom."

It was inevitable that Obama would become a late-night target, at least when Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Dave Letterman have taken time out from sliming one another. But Stewart, who makes no secret of leaning left, is a pop-culture bellwether. And while the White House notes that Obama used the prompter to address journalists, not the students, the details matter little in comedy. [...]

None of these jokes are particularly cutting, but what's telling is that they're being told at all. During the campaign, Lichter says, comedians made far more jokes about George W. Bush and John McCain than about Obama.

Jon Stewart is. He was so deep in the bag for Mr. Obama that it's amusing to watch him have to acknowledge how easy a target he was passing up.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 1, 2010 6:35 AM