Political Jokes, and the People Who Elected Them

I have noted that politicians used to begin their speeches with a joke. Now the politicians are the joke. Seriously, I have made this observation about the lack of jokes beginning political speeches. It has become a lost art. Ironically, the humor now resides in the broadcast analysis, which used to always be strictly serious and never tell jokes. Our national stand-up artists used to be the self-deprecating humor of John Kennedy and Richard Nixon or the humorous stories of Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan. Now, the humor is in the analysis of Presidents by people such as John Stewart.

Yet, maybe it is our leadership that has turned the tide of Presidential humor. For instance:

Saparmurat Niyazov, the Turkmenbashi of Turkmenistan, passed away suddenly. He was to have been eulogized by President Bush, until Bush saw all those hard words to pronounce.