"Chimerica"



Absolutely hilarious. SNL's Obama-in-China cold open was pitch-perfect, even capturing the deadpan voice of translators conveying the slide of American power. As if an American President since Nixon has brought back anything from China. Presumably the Harvard Lampoon alums writing at SNL know this. Still, they capture the perception that the trip was a political failure perfectly. As perfectly as, say, the poignant image of Obama, alone, against the Great Wall of China.

The deadpan voice in the skit is punctuated -- explosively -- by a command to sex. It is positively acidic.

And, as comedy often is, vaguely accurate.

SNL, thoroughly in Hillary's camp during the 2008 race, is probably going to be as hard on this American President as they were on, say, Clinton or Ford. Should be a wild ride.