Ha, Ha! It Was All a Joke

That Jeff Greenfield, what a kidder. A couple of days ago, he led a laugh riot on CNN, comparing Barack Obama's wardrobe to that of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. There weren't a lot of laughs, and some people, such as Bob Somerby at Daily Howler, Kevin Drum, and Digby even compared Greenfield's observations to the attention given Al Gore's earth tones, Bill Clinton's "$300 haircut" from Christophe, and Nancy Pelosi's attraction to Armani.

This wasn't the response Greenfield expected obviously, and maybe feeling like Kramer surrounded by hecklers, he may have panicked for a moment. His panic wasn't quite as damaging as Kramer's, fortunately, but it certainly didn't do much to underline his comedy bone fides. Like all comic geniuses faced with a joke falling flat, Greenfield thought that he could make it all better by--wait for it--explaining the joke. Greenfield did admit that he might not have told it as effectively as he might have, but the real problem was that bloggers jump to conclusions.

Yep, it was all the bloggers' fault. Why couldn't the silly bloggers realize that, unlike the election 2000 attacks on the color of Gore's clothes, unlike the recent use of Obama's middle name to undermine him as a serious candidate, unlike whatever the next frivolous nonissue intended to knock a Democrat off his or her game, comparing Obama's open collar to Ahmadinejad's open collar was all just one big laugh. Maybe bloggers will develop a sense of humor next time.

And as for Jeff Greenfield? He's booking a weekend set at Hollywood's Laugh Factory even as we speak.