But is humour that draws attention to one’s flaws a high-risk strategy if you are a prominent politician in this country Humour charms. At the dinner, he went a step further, showing what he called his birth video. It wasn’t a clip of a squealing baby Barack.John F.The video has Mr Obama asking vice-president Joe Biden, “I can’t golf every day, can I ” He tries offering his services as a sports coach but is rebuffed because the interviewer does not quite believe the authenticity of his birth certificate — once again a reference to that long-running joke about where Mr Obama was born. There is the legendary Lalu Prasad Yadav brand of humour.
In the United States, it is a tradition for Presidents to morph into political comedians at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, popularly perceived as a joke-a-thon where Presidents take pot-shots at political opponents, journalists and themselves. The Constitution treats us equally, but it is tacitly accepted that “leaders” are more equal than others, meant to be put on a pedestal, treated as sages who dole out wisdom to their minions. The Prime Minister himself is at his wittiest while taking swipes at his rivals, especially during the campaign season.There was never any doubt about Mr Obama’s cool quotient or his ability to be seriously funny when talking about others, or himself. Mr Obama had released his birth certificate a few days earlier to refute such charges.
Last week, at his eighth and final White House correspondents’ dinner speech, Mr Obama proved he had not lost his touch. Indians have countless jokes based on ethnicity, but very few of them have the confidence to laugh plastic mold parts at themselves on the basis of ethnicity, food habits, clothes or any other quirk. So stand-up India, break the monotony of just fire and brimstone that have come to be the leitmotif of Indian politics.
As a riposte to Indira Gandhi’s charges of being destabilised by foreign intelligence agencies, Mody promptly pinned an “I am a CIA Agent” button on his pet poodle.”Let us face it. It was footage from Walt Disney The Lion King, showing the grand unveiling of baby Simba in Africa. Remember his famous retort at those questioning his leadership: “Na toh tired na retired, bus Advaniji ke netritva mein vijay ki ore prasthan. If only our politicians could relax a bit and occasionally poke fun at themselves, it would be like a welcome shower that would reduce the heat inside and outside Parliament in this scorching Indian summer.” For those too young to remember, that was former US President Ronald Reagan’s iconic 1987 exhortation to the then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.”Then there was the inimitable Piloo Mody.