Timing

Obama as stand-up comic.

JFK once remarked that his youth in ascending to the Presidency would create a problem at the other end: “at an awkward age, too old to begin a new career and too young to be writing my memoirs.” Obama, if he and we are lucky, will be facing the same problem, with the additional handicap of having written a memoir already.

He could always go into stand-up.

A nine-second pause between the set-up and the punchline. And he brings it off, with just the right amount of mugging.

Oh yeah, and he’s also driving home the theme between now and November.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

3 thoughts on “Timing”

  1. That's the Cosby long count. Whatever you think of his TV career, Bill Cosby did killer work in standup when he was on the way up — and I bet someone heard all the records.

  2. I had assumed that a seat on the US Supreme Court, or Secretary General of the UN were the most logical, but after he outshone Jay Leno…

  3. He is the Messiah, so he'll have a career saving his people from their sins long after his political career is over.

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