Reply #89: I offer that jokes are tricky stuff

[Bluenorthwest]

for non professionals, and that the President has yet to master the altered dynamics that come from being no longer the underdog, but the top dog. He holds the highest status on Earth. Status is a huge element of humor. I will agree with you that he might have been attempting to be self deprecating, which is his practice, he has not learned how difficult it is to be self deprecating in his position. Frankly, I don't think he should ad lib jokes much. He misses his mark, not because he's not funny or not well intentioned, but because it is hard to be funny in his position without risking all sorts of confusions, and in fact without showing more of your actual self than you really want to show. I found the comment last night to be kind of sad, really. And about himself more than about others. But I can also fully see why some would take offense, and I very much think other comments would have served him much better on many levels.
Humor is a danger zone for him until he leans how to wield it as a figure of authority and a focal point of people's hopes.