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August 19, 2009
E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Bill Maher Hits and Misses
Bill Maher brought up a few good points on the show last week. Some of the left-wing pundit's statements were more on the money than others; but, as ever, he did a stellar job, facilitated by Tavis, of creating a meaningful and thought-provoking dialogue.
Among the highlights of the interview was Maher's assertion that President Obama is the first president since Kennedy with a real sense of humor. Watching Obama's exchange with John McCain over the purchase of helicopters, I couldn't help but agree.
His comments about Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal were just as apt. Whether or not Jindal participated in an exorcism (it kind of seems like he did, read the full story here), Maher is absolutely right about the Republican Party's weak attempt to make themselves appealing to post-racial voters. From the show transcript: “I had heard a lot about Bobby Jindal. I hadn't seen him talk that much, but I heard this is the great brown hope of the Republican Party—they're so clueless. That's what they think, the Democrats and Hillary, it's like, 'Oh, we got someone with breasts.' (Laughter) Are you kidding? We can play this game. We got—yeah. And now it's like Obama? Oh, yeah? Well, we got a guy looks kind of like that. (Laughter)” It's hard to rebut this kind of razor-witted accusation, given the events of the last year or so.
As usual, however, Maher goes too far on a couple of points. On terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America, he proposes President Obama preemptively addressing the nation on the subject, and warning them not to panic if we are attacked again. Unfortunately, we do not live in an America where that kind of brutal honesty and pragmatism would be well-received. In fact, it would likely have the opposite effect. As he says, “We're a nation of panickers.” Indeed.
There was also a spirited exchange over religion, spurred by a discussion of Maher's controversial new film, Religulous. When Tavis asked Maher to qualify his assertion that religion is “dangerous and silly,” Maher's response to the latter was less than convincing: “Talking snake? There's a talking snake in the Garden of Eden. A man lived inside of a whale. Guys walking on water. I mean, come on.” While anyone who takes the Bible word for word literally is certainly missing the point, it seems foolhardy to write off religious practice entirely just because of its parables. While Maher's assertion that it's easy enough to confuse one myth with another (say, Jack and the Beanstalk for Jonah and the whale) has some merit, he seems to be missing the larger issue here.
This kind of discussion is exactly what Tavis does best: intelligent, forward-thinking, and never devolving into the kind of shouting match all too common on television. To anyone who missed it on Wednesday, I highly recommend watching it on our new video player.