Make em' Laugh

The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)

There are two things that I definitely inherited from my father - an appreciation of both politics and humor. Although I did not think of my father as a particularly political person, he did love to see the irony and humor occurring daily in the political happenings. I can remember his mentioning several times that he always enjoyed watching President John F. Kennedy's press conferences. In particular, my dad appreciated Kennedy's ability to use humor to communicate with the press and the public.

I checked, and Kennedy's first press conference was in the State Department Auditorium on 1/24/61. It was unique, in that it was the first presidential press conference that was ever broadcast/televised live. Prior to this, the conferences were always filmed and recorded to be aired at a later date. I am attaching a video which contains some highlights of various Kennedy press conferences throughout his administration (see above). Aside from his knowing how to "work a room," he actually did answer questions in a direct and non-spin manner.

In Walter Shapiro's article in The New Republic, he writes of the inevitable comparison with Kennedy when President Obama holds his first press conference later this evening. He writes:

With Barack Obama's first news conference slated for tonight at 8 p.m. eastern, it is a safe bet that--like on Inauguration Day--the most over-used word in the English language Monday will be "Kennedy-esque." There will be paeans to John Kennedy's style and grace in the press room, as well as questions about whether Obama could ever possibly match them.

We know that President is young, graceful, and articulate. But, will this lead to his having the kind of rapport that President Kennedy was able to have with his reporter audience? I don't really know. Both times and the media are very different than they were 48 years ago. As one writer said last week in regard to Jake Tapper's questions to Robert Gibbs (wish I could remember where I read it) - that journalists are often more interested in making news than reporting it. The writer also commented (in so many words) that he wondered where all of this tough questioning was when George W. Bush was in office.