There is no doubt that the political climate right now is especially tense. Iran is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, the White House is desperately trying to defend a seemingly illegal domestic spying program, Jack Abramoff and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby are in trouble for political improprieties, and the situation in the Middle East has been quite troubling to put it mildly.
It is times like these when you need to be able to laugh at the world a little. You have to realize that behind all the serious life-and-death choices and ugly power struggles, politics can actually be quite entertaining - even humorous.
Take, for example, President Bush's State of the Union address a few weeks back. Although my housemates and I found much of what we saw on the TV amusing, (mostly because we were devising a SOTU drinking game during the speech - which reminds me, why isn't the word "rostrum" used more in everyday conversation?) my personal favorite moment came when the president joked that two of his father's favorite people, himself and Bill Clinton, had just recently turned 60.
With this, laughter ensued and the camera cut to a grimacing Senator Rodham Clinton, who, it appeared to me, was unsuccessfully trying to think of two people in the world she despised more. Priceless.
Perhaps the most noteworthy part of the president's speech was his call for the development of alternative forms of energy to lessen American dependence on foreign oil. On the face of it, this does not seem funny at all. Indeed, energy independence is a noble goal - especially for a president so closely linked to the oil industry.
That's not to say that I (or most pundits for that matter) are convinced by Bush's optimistic projections. Let us just say that if my car is running on ethanol produced from switch grass or wood chips in six years, I would be stunned. (NOTE: Why had no one told me about these energy options? Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to learn about an alternative form of energy for the first time from such a science-averse president?)
It seems that even members of the President's own administration were taken aback by his pledge to "replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." The next day the Energy Secretary said that the President's estimate was "purely an example," and that he did not mean that we would actually replace the oil coming from the Middle East. Instead, we would save an equivalent amount via new technologies. Well, of course.
And how about those Danish cartoons, a poor attempt at political humor that has sparked Muslim rioting throughout the Middle East? Though I am not condoning the insensitive nature of those sketches (which it seems were purposefully inflammatory), I have to admit that I was stunned by the subsequent violence.
I have not seen an overreaction on that scale since Tonya threw Beth's clothes in the swimming pool on "The Gauntlet" a few seasons ago. Seriously though, could even the most pessimistic, "clash of civilizations"-type international observer have predicted that the first tremors of World War III would be the result of some third-rate drawing in some third-rate publication from some tiny Scandinavian country?
As many others have noted, the real irony here is that some Muslims are violently reacting to the portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad as the leader of a blood-thirsty religion, thus furthering the view held by many Westerners that Islam is an inherently violent religion. Unfortunately, I don't see this cycle of cultural misunderstanding breaking anytime soon.
If there is something that can bridge the widening gap, however, surely it's being able to share a good laugh at someone else's expense. Enter Vice President Dick Cheney, who mistook an old friend of his for a quail during a Saturday hunting expedition and thus proceeded to shoot said friend multiple times in the face, neck and chest with a pellet gun.
It seems that Cheney was so embarrassed by the episode - which some may construe as an example of the VP's alleged trigger-happy and reckless nature - that he tried to stay quiet about it for as long as possible, letting the mighty Corpus Christi Caller-Times break the story the next day.
Thankfully, the man, who is 78 years old, escaped with minor injuries. Or at least that was the case until Tuesday, when one of the lodged pellets began disrupting the victim's heartbeat and he suffered a minor heart attack. This latest development has of course removed some of the humor from the situation.
Before last month, curling up to watch "The West Wing" (R.I.P. John Spencer) was the most sure-fire way to escape from the daunting political realities of day-to-day life. So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank that recently cancelled show for eight great years.
In one tidy hour the problems of the world were met head-on by the best and brightest within the White House, and while the country's problems were not always solved, the show instilled a confidence among its viewers that everything would ultimately be okay. Dealing with the current political reality will require some extra good humor now that it's gone.
David Mitchell is a Senior majoring in political science
