Barack Obama got to deliver the classic opening line on tonight's Saturday Night Live broadcast. It seemed emblematic of his campaign that he failed to look into the camera...
To say that Mr. Obama's performance thus far in the campaign has been disappointing would be an understatement. Everything he does lately has gotten so tentative, like he's feeling around for the right thing to say all of the time. The man appears to be in over his head.
What's worse, now he's taking to repeating Republican talking points about Social Security - what's up with that? It's hard enough to counter the stories trumped up by the right wing about their phony "Social Security Crisis" without our own candidates going over to the darkside. I understand that he has to challange Hillary on something, but bringing up "the third rail of American politics" doesn't seem like the wisest way to raise your profile, let alone how bad it is for the political discourse.
Tonight Obama walked onto the set of SNL in the midst of a Halloween party scene in which a faux Hillary was dressed as a bride and her husband was dressed as a founding father. They had Amy Poehler dressed up like Dennis Kucinich, and cast members portraying Biden and Dodd in matching Sponge Bob Squarepants costumes, it was very funny. Barack wore a business suit and a Barack Obama mask, which he peeled off to reveal the surprise. He looked into the camera for a split second, then flinched away as the camera zoomed in on his face while he yelled, "...live from New York..." etc. He got the line out fine, but seemed unable to look the camera (thus the audience) in the eye.
Me thinks he already knows its over. Maybe check back with us in 2016...
ars0067 has the video here.