The previous post has video of Harry Truman doing an imitation of the radio commentator H.V. Kaltenborn. And I can remember Barack Obama imitating Al Green. Or maybe that shouldn't count. He was just doing his best at singing "Let's Stay Together." Oh, I see that later he joked: "Tonight, I am speaking not just as a President, but as one of America's best-known Al Green impersonators." Obama also imitated the Seahawks' Richard Sherman: "I'm the best President in the game!"
I couldn't think of anything else. I googled people who have been imitated by presidents, and the first hit was a NYT pieced called "The Spirit of the President. Let it be Imitated." which I misread as promising for my list-making purpose. Turned out it was from November 12, 1864. Abraham Lincoln had called upon "all having a common interest [to] reunite in a common effort to save our common country," and the NYT editors recommended an imitation of his "forbearing and generous spirit." That's an immensely interesting detour, profound when I'm being lightweight. I'm only mentioning it because it's my way to blog about the process of blogging, and today, especially, has been a day of blogging details.
I'm genuinely trying to make a a list of people who have been imitated by a President of the United States.
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Couldn't find it on YouTube, but I remember seeing footage of President Lyndon Johnson doing a wicked imitation of fellow Texan Sarah McClendon.
Bill Clinton imitating Bono
http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/celebrities/free/20130926bill-clinton-revenge-mimicking-bono.html
Reagan imitated Truman Capote
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-reagan-wit/
May money is on JFK for a witty quote of somebody, but they used to protect the President from the dumber things he did.
Obama wins hands down for the best impersonation of a president by a fund-raiser.
Reagan imitated Truman Capote
I'd have loved to have seen that. Reagan was a better actor than most of his critics would admit. He could have done the voice and the swish.
Obama kind of mocked Nancy Reagan, but I'm not sure if he imitated her.
If Obama could learn one lesson from Reagan, namely don't take yourself so seriously, he might be able to finish these eight years with a positive record. But it's a forlorn hope, I surmise. Obama is just too taken with Obama to put his ego ahead of his legacy.
Bush I imitates Dana Carvey: link
Maybee wrote: Obama kind of mocked Nancy Reagan...
Unfortunately that's what passes for humor in the Obama White House.
If the current President has a collection of witty comments on index cards, they're a composed of put-downs and thinly veiled quips of self-approbation.
Obama imitated McKayla Maroney, too.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/17/photo-obama-imitates-gymnast-mckayla-maroneys-not-impressed-look/
chickelit wrote: Bush I imitates Dana Carvey...
There's a metaphysical problem here, but I can't quite put my finger on it...
I don't guess candidate Nixon on Laugh In doing "Sock it to Me" counts
@Q: There's a hilarious video out there of Rich Little imitating Jimmy Stewart at some roast; Stewart is seated next to Little and takes it all in. When he finishes, Stewart speaks and Little accuses him of doing a poor impression.
Doing "micro impressions" was so much of Robin Williams' genius. Who else is out doing that?
I've seen Al Green.
I've been to his church.
Mr. President, you're no Al Green.
Reagan reportedly could do "an acceptable impersonation" of Jimmy Stewart.
It's on page 742 of "President Reagan: the role of a lifetime" by Lou Cannon. You can google it.
George W. Bush imitates Dr. Evil.
Truman Imitates Kaltenborn;
Obama imitates Bush
George W. Bush imitates himself.
lemondog wrote: Obama imitates Bush
Any president who abandons a fantasy world and rejoins reality can't help imitating GWB.
President Obola imitates Alfred E. Neumann. Every day.
In one of the Clinton videos for Christmas or the press corps dinner or something, Bill Clinton impersonated TD Ameritrade 'Stuart' doing a little happy dance.
Didn't Nixon do an impression of himself on "Laugh In"?
What about Reagan doing Eastwood?
"Go ahead. Make my day."
Gerald Ford imitated me when he fell down the steps of Air Force One.
Are we to include or exclude presidents imitating other presidents and, moreover, are we to allow or disallow the expansion of the notion of "imitate" as in, for example, the way in which the notion of "free speech" has been expanded? Ground rules, ground rules.
I know quite a few people a President of the United States has tried to intimidate, but never any a President has tried to imitate...
Obama's most dead-on impersonation has to be Primo Communist Flitworth.
Obama did an imitation of Denzel Washington playing Malcolm X when he told a crowd, "They try to bamboozle you, hoodwink you.”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/An_unlikely_echo.html
BTW, it was George HW Bush, not Reagan, who used the "Make my day" line.
From http://variety.com/1999/voices/columns/cagney-s-yankee-oscar-for-sale-1117743036/
>>Even President Clinton does an imitation of Cagney: Red Buttons, invited to the White House, greeted the president with his best Cagney imitation, saying, “My father thanks you, my mother thanks you, my sister thanks you — and I thank you. Where else but in a great country like ours can a little guy like me talk it over with and shake hands with the head man?” Buttons added, “Those were the exact words that George M. Cohan said to Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Jimmy Cagney in ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’.” Clinton responded, “I know, I know,” then segued into perfect Cagneyese with “you dirty rat.”>>
Mea culpa--It was Reagan in 1985 who said Eastwood's line, "Make my day."
JFK did a real good imitation of Bugs Bunny.
And Obama does a real good imitation of the stupid kid down the block (or maybe it's the other way around, hard to tell.)
Thomas Jefferson intimidated (and ultimately defeated) the Muslim pirates on the Barbary Coast back in 1815.
Slightly offspec, but TR's daughter Alice "performed devastating impersonations of her cousin Eleanor Roosevelt.
Tom Gallagher said...
Obama wins hands down for the best impersonation of a president by a fund-raiser.
Ding...Ding...Ding!!! Best Comment!!!!!
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