I believe he's trying to talk like a standup comedian. I feel as though he's been coached on how to sound like a standup comedian who is also the Obama who once presided over what's now supposed to be remembered as a golden age.
That's not easy, but when he gets to his big punchline — "He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory" — it's like he doesn't even know what cheesecake is let alone have any familiarity with the restaurant chain a lot of Americans regard as a pretty nice place to go out to eat.
You don't get the full effect of the snobbery of looking down on the Cheesecake Factory, because he flubs the word "cheesecake." He's reading the teleprompter, presumably, "Cheesecake Factory" comes up, and he stops midway through "cheesecake" — "like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheese" — pause — "Cake Factory."
Is it a good joke, though, other than that? Most of us know the interior design of a Cheesecake Factory. Sort of. But Saddam Hussein is a figure from more than 20 years ago. What's the mental picture here? Saddam Hussein's palace... yeah, it must have been ornate....
Oh! Here's a Vanity Fair article from March 2016: "Donald Trump’s Mansions and Saddam Hussein’s Palaces Are Basically the Same/We couldn’t help but notice a striking similarity in the decorating palate of two demagogues: Donald Trump, the putative Republican nominee for president of the United States, and the late Saddam Hussein, the former president, prime minister, and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of the Republic of Iraq."
But then Trump got elected. Twice. And Saddam faded 10 more years into the past. What is he to young people today? Another one of those generically bad guys like Hitler and Genghis Khan?
But there are plenty of well-known figures who embed themselves in gold decor.
What is this contempt for gold?
Posts
86 comments:
He kept fiddling with a drippin nose.
Toots? BTW, google "Buraq".
Hussein.
I expect he is hoping to negotiate with Netflix for a standup comedy special.
"What is this contempt for gold?." It depends on whom you ask. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner? They didn't like it. Mark Spitz? How many gold medals did he get? He must have liked gold. However, all that glisters is not gold.
Obummer stays true to form.
The thing is, when you set out to denigrate a class of people, you have to first provide some evidence that you are actually in some possession of understanding and insight about them. That's what standup comedians provide, some humorous insights. Like Hillary, all he knew about the 'Deplorables' is that they were the target.
As much as they hate Trump, why are they imitating him? Don't they know it's the sincerest form of flattery? It's a giant 'You Won' signal.
I like Scott Jennings. He's a happy warrior and a good solid guy. Unlike all of the lie-spewing dem hacks he is forced to work with.
@ScottJennings
Obama:
"Makes speeches for 500k a pop. Hasn’t eaten dinner that costs less than $250 in years. Has never been in a Cheesecake Factory. Undefeated at condescending to regular folks. Will always be known for a presidency that ushered in the Trump era to begin with."
I'd give him credit for ending the golden age The only good he did was creating MAGA.
How many mansions does Obama own? How much money does Obama have? At some point - Obama, you've made enough money.
Why does Obama meet with Carney of Canada?
Why does Obama own a mansion in DC?
btw- the CEO of United makes $32 million a year. Kirby Is openly calling for radical leftwing taxation. Bonus: there is an open Islamic radical pilot flying for United. Yikes.
In the Interior Design world - gold accents/ metals/plumbing/lighting- have been in style for a while now.
Has he seen that Chicago monstrosity laughingly called his "Library"? Straight from the reject pile from the original Star Wars. No gold (a taste I do not share with our President), but no beauty either.
In Florida, in a beach town, about half of the new homes are modern, cube like structures with flat roofs and a hodgepodge of mixed siding materials. Think McDonalds! These homes are seriously ugly. The other half are foreigners building massive new mansions that resemble wedding cakes. These homes are outrageous looking. My little house was a Sears kit home built in the 1920s. It is white, stucco and has a clay tile roof. It is very normal but it looks so out of place next to the monsters.
I think the phenomenon is known as "copy paste architecture."
What I think is happening is that somebody (usually a woman) with a lot of money takes a few pictures of houses they like, combines their "best" features and goes straight to the building contractor. No need for an architect.
I think this is also happening to the White House. Trump is designing the new ball room and it's going to look retarded.
I think democrats hate Trump's supporters more than Trump himself.
That's why so many leftists are out there non-stop - demanding MAGA be harassed, rounded-up, arrested, jailed, re-programmed, murdered, etc...
Obama's billions in waste Soviet Brutalist monument to himself in Chicago. LOL. I almost forgot.
Yea, he's the last person who should be critiquing someone's building. Hey Barry, pay your contractors, you crook.
Barack is just jealous. He wanted a ballroom but was too timid to ask.
He’s also jealous at all the great things Trump has accomplished. Remember when Barack said, “Those jobs aren’t coming back?” Audi has just announced that it is building a giant plant in Macon, GA and will close their auto plants in Canada and Mexico.
It’s accomplishments like that the point out what a failure Obama was.
Yeah, the gold trim looks bad but Trump has done great and substantial things. And if we want to talk about architectural taste, that library in Chicago is a disaster.
Has Obama looked at his library? Approving that monstrosity, which has taken the title of the ugliest public building from the Boston City Hall, disqualifies him from judging any architecture. That’s chutzpah.
Penny and Bernadette worked at the Cheesecake Factory. I can only guess at why the first one wasn't called the Cheesecake Bakery. Factory sucks, it's true, but still it's better than Shack or Hut or Barn. Andy Warhol was making a valid point, . . . sort of.
At least the ex-president didn't call anyonea fucking asshole.
I agree with Dave Begley. He sounds very jealous of all the WH renovations, in particular. It’s hard to believe he’s truly bewildered at the building of a big beautiful ballroom. The guy who claimed he could tame the seas couldn’t do what Trump has done. He likely never even thought of doing it.
"I believe he's trying to talk like a standup comedian."
Obama's hope and change schtick has worn out its welcome. It's clear that what he promised didn't materialize, yet he's being put back in front of the same audiences.
He's now trying to emulate the only successful politician on the campaign trail -- Donald J. Trump.
He is and always has been an arrogant prick. I got that impression of him early on and 20 years of public appearances just continually reinforces it.
Peachy+2 said...
I think democrats hate Trump's supporters more than Trump himself.
This times 1,000. Bitter clingers, deplorables, etc. You can feel their distain for the "lower classes" in the air every time they speak.
"Most of us know the interior design of a Cheesecake Factory. Sort of. But Saddam Hussein is a figure from more than 20 years ago."
I have never seen a Cheesecake Factory, but I've seen a number of Saddam's palaces.
Obama's Kenyan elite vs deplorables.
Quite by accident I was posting a comment (by mistake on the Sumrise #1 thread) about this remark by Obama, and like others upthread I think the former President’s Library, which resembles in color and shape the trash bin in my garage, disqualifies him from critiquing Trump’s rococo style.
“You can feel their distain for the "lower classes" in the air every time they speak.”
C.f., disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok remarks to his paramour Lisa Page about he could SMELL Trump supporters in a Virginia WalMart. [his capitslization]
Millionaire flim-flam Obama is well past his shelf-life as a viable political leader.
Obama probably just harmed a business for no reason and the livelihoods of people who work there. Now leftists will all deny they go there or ever liked it. A lot of unfunny lefty comedians will start throwing Cheesecake Factory around in their routines as an example of someplace only those ignorant country rubes go.
Like Baptists in a liquor store, it will be years now before Democrats speak to one another in a Cheesecake Factory.
Obama trying to be a POC Jimmy Kimmel. Not funny.
Green Dreams from Martha's Vineyard... by the rising waters of the seashore. How green does he think people are?
Obama knew less and understood less about America than ANY president. There is no close second. Obama knows grievance.
The Lightbringer will not be satisfied until the Marxist-Islamist takeover is complete. How he will react when the Muzzies begin beheading the lefties is unpredictable since he has a foot in both camps.
Bob Boyd - 10:38 - exactly. The snob left look down on the deplorables. and they certainly don't mind ruining whole businesses.
Cheesecake factory didn't ask for this.
Fruit Bat: "Andy Warhol was making a valid point"
Yeah, the Obama v3 admin looked a lot like the Factory, with dress thieves handling nukes, buggery in the Capitol, and topless trannies on the South Grounds.
Rachel came from Wakefield MA
Woked her way across the USA
Admiral stars along the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
I say hey babe take a walk on Obama's side.
Sam came from way out in Iowa
When he got caught they said "tried to warn ya"
But he never lost a bag
Even when he was stealing bags
I say hey babe take A walk on Obama's side.
Aidan was a Dem Senate Staffer
Thought he could get someone at work to staff her
Made a sex tape and got some views
Hart SOB is where they tell you
Aidan, babe, take a walk on Obama's side.
Rose had two boobs for which she paid
Visited the White House for a day
Showed em off she was so proud
Don't say the quiet part out loud
Hey Rose, just walk on the Obama side.
And the Pali boys say Allahu ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Akbar to you ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
When they kill a Joo ooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Or two ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
CC, JSM
I rather go to a ball at a Cheesecake Factory than one at Obama’s trash can library.
“ But Saddam Hussein is a figure from more than 20 years ago. What's the mental picture here?”
My 22 year old granddaughter, smart college student who likes history, doesn’t know Saddam. She only knew there are old memes with a guy named Saddam hiding in a bunker. And she has never been in a Cheesecake Factory so the joke went right over her head as I expect it does with most people her age.
jim said...
At least the ex-president didn't call anyonea fucking asshole.
-------------------------
You left off the in public part.
Wagyu the class consciousness.
Trump has always gone for the "Persian" aesthetic. They try to use Saddam, but in reality, Trump's decor is more like what you'd find in the home of Iranian-American businessmen.
And remember, Iran is islamic by violence, not by cultural development.
"I believe he's trying to talk like a standup comedian."
I just realized Obama in that clip does remind me of a comedian. Bill Cosby
He surrendered the country to malaki and hence rose the islamic state
Barrack Obama is a mediocre but pretty black man who was hired to make the white women swoon.
He is otherwise not very smart and he inhabits both the Red and the Green faction of traitors.
Barrack Obama is a fucking traitor who used the government to attack his political opponents in evil and illegal ways.
He should be treated like a traitor and so should all of his supporters. They are evil vicious violent people who do not belong in a free country.
jim said...
At least the ex-president didn't call anyonea fucking asshole.
He did lie to the FISA court to use the FBI and CIA to spy on the Republican Party and tried to throw the leaders of the Republican Party in jail though.
He is a piece of shit and a traitor to our country.
BOOM!
I read this and immediately thought of a line from one of my favorite TV shows that has stayed with me forever.
There is a dinner party at the Cusamanos and Dr Melfi is there with a bunch of assholes (including the Cusamanos).
Talk turns to mocking the neighbor, Tony Soprano:
Woman asshole: "And that bar, with the goombah Murano glass..."
Melfi: "I like Murano glass"
Well said Dr Melfi, well said.
We go, as a family, wife, kids, grandkids, to Cheesecake Factory once or twice a year. I go by myself occasionally when traveling. I've never had a bad meal in 25 years. The 75 page menu means that everyone, even the most finicky grandkid can find something they like. I see nothing wrong with the decor either.
Like Dr Melfi with Murano, I like Cheesecake factory. So fuck you Obama. Again.
Link to the Murano glass line: https://youtu.be/JvFODPQmMsk?si=hlYQ_eQd54UaqTCl&t=64
John Henry
A thought had crossed my mind that President Trump should endorse the Cheesecake Factory. Then I realized that it would be the kiss of death and decided he should keep quiet.
Then Bob Boyd pointed out that Obama had probably done most of the damage anyway with his joke.
So screw it. President Trump should go ahead and say something like {Snark about Obama and his poor joke} "I like Cheesecake Factory. Gonna have them cater the first big shindig in the new ballroom. In fact, when we finish tonight, let's all head over there. Dinner's on me. Wanna put a thumb in Obama's eye? Metaphorically, of course. Eat at Cheesecake factory"
It will sure piss off half the country but it will bring the other flooding it. Would the gain offset the loss? I'm guessing maybe.
John Henry
…with the clarity the Biden administration provided us Obama was a front for the communist replacement theorists. No real power. A Johnny Bravo that fit the suit…
…and he seems more a beefcake guy…
NKP said that Obama didn't know or understand America.
Tru dat!
But remember he did not grow up here. He spent his formative years in Indonesia and Hawaii. How would he ever get a chance to know or understand America?
HI is a state and has been part of the US for 128 years. But it has its own distinct culture. So sort of US culture but not quite.
John Henry
Is it a token of racism that biracial individuals such as Obama are treated as unambiguously black? Or is it instead a demonstration of the extent to which the category of blackness has lost its stigma, and taken on a mixed aura of edgy coolness?
How about a counter effect?
Perhaps President Trump could endorse Starbucks. "I LOVE Starbucks. Best coffee flavored drinks in the world. I always start my day with a (Name some expensive complicated coffee flavored Starbucks collation) Starbucks is what lets me work 23 hours a day. I wanted to put a Starbucks in the lobby of the new ballroom but they won't let me. How about that? I'm president of the most powerful nation ever and they won't let me put a Starbucks in my own ballroom. (5 more minutes of weave omitted)"
It would boost starbucks among his supporters so perhaps zero net loss to SB. But all the lefties would no longer have a place to pretend to get coffee. So that is a WIN!
John Henry
Obama and Syed should fire up the grill and carve up a Labrador in downtown Detroit. Maybe a golden Retriever too.
Given Obama’s record in the Middle East, he is wise to go for laughs. Just don’t declare any Red Lines.
Random thought: Luther was quite upset about the way the Vatican was raising money by selling indulgences and with what that money was used for. Well, it's several centuries later, the St Peter's and the accompanying artwork endures......Corruption is sinful but there are greater sins. Some of history's greatest villains were incorruptible: Cromwell, Robsespierre, Lenin, the Ayatollah et al could not be turned from the path to glory with a bribe. Trump's character is not edifying, but, all in all, he's a better man than Woodrow Wilson........Apartments in Trump Tower are sold at a premium and the Cabrini Green housing project got dynamited.......I suppose you can argue that the Spanish Inquisitiion is part of the Pope's legacy, but with equal justice you can claim that the Peasant's Revolt, the Thirty Years War, and perhaps even Hitler were part of Luther's legacy.
You didn't build that either, Barry...
It’s a lesser fault, but President Obama seems to have no artistic sense. I can’t imagine anyone OK’ing that horrendous Presidential Center design. And the painting of him at the Smithsonian, lost in the shrubbery, is quite frankly an insult. Even if the plants are symbols of his past, the message is that he was elected for his story and not for his ideas. That’s actually very close to the truth.
Obama and Syed could walk into all of the public women's bathrooms and wash their feet in the sinks while they are at it.
Give Barry a break. He's just cranky because he saw videos of all those European World Cup visitors going to Buc-ees and enjoying themselves not all that long ago and he knows if he was seen at a place like that, he'd be mocked mercilessly by both the left & right, so he needs to crap on something deplorables (and presumably, those European visitors) enjoy in order to inflate his sense of superiority.
“ Obama didn't know or understand America.”
Remember how he threw out that baseball? Ann could have done a better job.
Obama has also insisted tgst Iran is "in a stronger strategic position now than before the war started."
I knew about his house in Hyde Park, his mansion in the hoity-toity Kalorama area of DC, and his beachfront mansions on Oahu and Martha’s Vinyard, but I had been unaware of his having a residence on some other planet.
As they used to say back in the day, Barack needs to go someplace and sit down.
The Cheesecake Factory reference made no sense at all in connection with either Hussein, Trump or the White House. It was like one of those old comedians in the 60s who would use some out-of-place word or phrase because "it sounds funny".
Who's writing his stuff, Jan Murray?
The Cheesecake Factory is an American business with a lot of American workers and a lot of American customers. It seems plainly stupid to put it down. He should want to help it.
No such thing as bad publicity, amirite?
Trump is worst teleprompter reading prez. But best at press conferences, scheduled or impromptu.
And Obama never ever could handle as much at one time as Trump does.
Far as the comedy, avg delivery, writer assumed CCF is same as a Denny's and Obama doesn't know any different.
Lucky for Barry that he didn’t say Jimmy’s Seafood or they’d already have told him a thing or two, and started printing the t-shirts.
Obama becomes boutique.
'The Cheesecake Factory is an American business with a lot of American workers and a lot of American customers. It seems plainly stupid to put it down. He should want to help it.'
yes, seems like common sense to me too.
Obama is an ideologue. dedicated and committed to a long term, decades long, war. He is also too stupid to understand what he is a part of now=one of his hallmarks is his general lack of knowledge, not just of America, but of general knowledge.
He was like that from the get go, and I will always be astonished at how he was sold to America, and how women mostly, bought it hook line and sinker.
"Is it a good joke, though, other than that? Most of us know the interior design of a Cheesecake Factory. Sort of. But Saddam Hussein is a figure from more than 20 years ago. What's the mental picture here? Saddam Hussein's palace... yeah, it must have been ornate...."
Exactly. Mental image glitch here. Saddam Hussein opens a Cheesecake Factory... what am I picturing here? A Cheesecake factory with a torture room in it? Wood chippers? Sort of macabre. That can't be it. A lot of that green color Saddam wore? That's not much of an image; Cheesecake Factories could already have green wallpaper for all I know. Trump-related... so gold? Was Saddam Hussein into gold stuff like Trump? Must have been, or this joke doesn't make sense. How different would a Cheesecake Factory look with a lot of gold stuff? Isn't there a bunch of brass in there? I can't remember. What was this about again? The ballroom?
One expects better jokes from Obama.
I ate at a Cheesecake Factory years ago, and I remember whatever I got being good. Why disparage the Cheesecake Factory? A place full of cheesecake. What's not to like?
Ann Althouse said...
The Cheesecake Factory is an American business with a lot of American workers and a lot of American customers. It seems plainly stupid to put it down. He should want to help it.
"You didn't build that."
You knew what he thinks about businesses that employ people when you voted for him.
Obama has always been transparent in what he thinks and what he wants.
People voted for him anyways because feelz.
I rise to defend the Kenyan.
"The external appearance and interior design of the [CF] outlets often features an elaborate pastiche of many different historical styles and has been described as a 'postmodern design hellscape'."
That's Wikipedia.
The other Hussein had several garishly decorated palaces (as does Obama).
His speech writer is ridiculing CF's often ridiculed architecture, not their food or business or customers. But you have to know of the preexisting architectural criticism for the joke to have a chance.
The crowd laughed reflexively but they didn't get the reference. I didn't either, initially.
I'll vote extra hard as penance.
“Ann Althouse said..
The Cheesecake Factory is an American business with a lot of American workers and a lot of American customers. It seems plainly stupid to put it down. He should want to help it.”
@Althouse, I suspect that, like far, far too many people, deep inside Barack Obama assumes that if he doesn’t know how to do something (like operate a chain of 417 restaurants) then it must necessarily be easy.
Is their a non-racially tinged expression for shucking and jiving?
He's bouncing around like he needs to go pee. Almost Dangerfieldesque.
If he had worn a tie he would have been pulling on it.
He gets no respect and he deserves none.
"and has been described as a 'postmodern design hellscape'."
I've been to the place several times. Seemed nice enough to me.
@Rabel, as long as you don’t vote extra often.
Never been to a Cheesecake Factory. There is one here in the Mall of Georgia. 🤔
Why can’t I just eat my Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake?
And as far as 'postmodern design hellscape' goes... dollars to doughnuts, the person who wrote that description supports the current rioting in France.
If I never hear from that preening, arrogant prick again it'll still be too soon.
Your time is over. Shut up and go away.
And take Hillary with you.
Did Bill Ayers write that for him too?
*At least the ex-president didn't call anyonea fucking asshole.*
Did he 'slyly' flip 'em off instead?
@Rabel, trust me on this. Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake is way better.
He acted stupidly. h/t Obama Such a burden. Abort.
“Does Obama even know what cheesecake is?
I've listened to this 20 times”
Uh…OK.
Anyway, I think Obama is more of a waffle guy.
Haven't been in years. Enjoyed the place and the huge servings. But we might want to stop talking about monstrously delicious sugar bombs before Achilles catches us!
"What is this contempt for gold?"
Gold is so bougie.
Penny works as a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena on The Big Bang Theory.
The Big Bang Theory Wiki | Fandom
Role: Waitress (and later an aspiring actress).
Location: Pasadena, California.
Significance: The restaurant serves as a primary social hub where she meets Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj, and where Bernadette also worked to pay for college
Obama apply for job as Comedian @
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