It’s not easy to satirize President Obama. Without any significant blemishes on his young political career, nor even any distinctive physical characteristics (like former President Clinton’s Arkansas drawl, or Bush’s squint-and-pout), Obama has little material to offer to pop culture juggernauts Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show. But yesterday, a new comedic gem appeared on the web from, of all places, Newsweek. Yes, their web folk did, in fact, chronicle the story of the young, ambitious new president via MTV’s format of documenting all things young, ambitious, and new—by giving Obama his own urban-themed scripted comedy, “The District”.
New digs, attractive arm candy, a highly competitive job in one of the nation’s premier cities—who knew Barack had so much in common with Whitney Port? Newsweek promises another episode next week, hopefully with a less tedious intro and more awkward vacant stares. Now it won’t be long until the New York Times starts a vlog series staring Thomas Friedman a la Bromance.
Sara Germano is an intern at CJR.