So, it’s MLK Day once again. It seems unfair to post my usual deprication, Callahan cartoon and all. After all, change has come. The new blue is black. I can’t think of anything less funny than our deeply trashed country picking herself off the floor and checking into the trusty 12-step program that is the Democratic Party tomorrow.

And what’s funny about our 44th President? He’s educated, attractive, well married and a responsible parent, more or less. He smokes, drinks, and listens to decent music. He’s set up a cabinet of the experienced, and he seems fairly aware of his own faults.

Honestly, my biggest concern is the lack of humor available. As a country, we’re hip ‘nuf to hire a black President, but not to laugh at him. (He’s a tall, nerdy, beak nosed, Kool smokin’, Motown listenin’, over oratin’ black man moving in to the White House for chrissake, come on people!) Our economy is circling the rim, we’re choking on our own fumes, we have no health care, and we’re caught between two military quagmires. Vasoline, anyone? Comedic relief, somebody?

I’m concerned that without humor, we lack clarity. Humor is often the only social permission which allows us to call a fish a fish. Or the monkey-headed speech-impaired moron a Republican. Four years of Politically Corrected anti-racism could render us a bunch of sightless moles, something we can ill afford.

So, I suggest a new MLK Day tradition. Reach out and make fun of someone….Without regard to the color of their skin but by the content of their character. See them for who they are; stereotypes, strengths, faults, and sillyness. Live the dream.

At the final Iowa debate, on Dec. 13, Obama was asked how he could really present himself as the candidate of change when so many of his advisers had worked in the Clinton administration. As he professorially cleared his throat (“Well, you know, I …”), a sharp laugh erupted from Hillary, who exclaimed, “I want to hear this!” Obama allowed himself a bit of drollery, remarking, “Well, Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me as well.“

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167582/page/5