SNL Obama Video Gets It Wrong--He Has Accomplished Too Much

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

If you missed the opening skit of "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, here is their spoof of President Obama addressing the "hateful rhetoric" in politics today. Watch the video:

Like all good humor, this skit contains a kernel of truth. The president's checklist of things he hasn't accomplished includes closing Guantanamo Bay, getting troops out of Iraq, improving Afghanistan and enacting healthcare reform. He knows the left would like him to do something about things like global warming, gays in the military, and torture prosecutions.

But so far, Obama says in the skit, he's accomplished two things: #1. Jack and #2. Squat.

SNL's list of the president's non-accomplishments is a pretty comprehensive. Many of them are bad ideas stopped by Congressional Republicans—to their credit, they asked questions about where the terrorists at Guantanamo will be placed, emphasized the good reasons not to criminalize policy decisions at the CIA, and pointed out the regional instability that could accompany an immediate pullout in Iraq. And they've managed to slow down the rush to healthcare reform that increases the deficit even more.

Of course those of us on the right beg to differ with SNL's list of his two accomplishments. The comedy writers forgot that President Obama enacted at least two very big pieces of legislation: 1. the nearly one trillion-dollar stimulus package and 2. the massive federal budget that extends the deficit to our grandchildren. But aside from that, I guess the SNL writers have a point—he hasn't accomplished everything he promised when he first talked about "change you can believe in."

And, like all good humor, this skit also makes a point. To me, the point is that the New York-Hollywood types are getting frustrated with Obama, and there is growing disillusionment on the left. Maybe the right will tone down the rhetoric when they hear the left complain that the president really hasn't been able to accomplish all that he promised.

At least he hasn't yet.

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