CNN’s resident funny man, Jeff Greenfield, protests that he was just making a joke when he compared Barack Obama’s jacket-but-no-tie attire to the fashion choices of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
“Talking Point Memo,” the home of Joshua Micah Marshall, pronounced the observation “weird.” “The Daily Howler” saw it as party of the same media instinct that ridiculed Al Gore for his “earth tones” clothing choices back in 2000. The Columbia Journalism Review Web site weighed in with “character assassination.” (It acknowledged that the effort might have been a weak attempt at humor).
Is some of this my fault? It has to be, for the same reason famed Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach liked to say that when someone misses a pass, 90 per cent of the time it’s the fault of the passer.
I figured there was no way on planet Earth that anyone could possibly take such a presentation at face value. I was wrong.
Most of what happened here, I think, is a demonstration of the hair-trigger instincts that have grown up among some of the bloggers (not to mention the need to fill all that space every day, or hour, or 15 minutes).
Sigh. Of course, it was a joke. Just a weird joke, poorly executed. Watch the clip (the link is on the left in the middle of the page) and decide for yourself. Then check out this second CNN clip, about Obama’s name.
So is the joke on the media? Or on Obama?
(By the way, it’s cable news that has space to fill, 24-7. We can write as much–or as little–as we want.)
