Irony Is Dead Again? Gee Thanks, Obama

Joan Didion disses hopeful trend, but ironists keep the flame

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 22, 2008 10:36 AM CST

(Newser) – Barack Obama’s America is an “irony-free zone” where “naïveté translated into ‘hope,’” writer Joan Didion groused after the election. But not all ironists agree: P.J. O’Rourke, for one, wrote that he hopes it's not too early to talk about Obama's "failed presidency," and novelist Colson Whitehead wrote an op-ed under the headline, "Finally, a Thin President."

But Didion may have a point. A Nexus search reveals that usage of the word “irony” in newspapers is down this year. Jokes about Sarah Palin still rule the land, because Obama jokes can draw backlash; an Onion article calling Obama a “con man” set message boards ablaze. “Their sarcasm processors have kind of gone into shock,” said an Onion editor, who added that humorists will find “the next dumb thing to satirize.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (3)]

A poster showing Barack Obama dressed as Superman decorates a port-a-loo in the middle of Houston street October 9, 2008 in New York City. (Getty Images)

In this Aug. 16, 2007, file photo Barack Obama and his daughter Sasha ride bumper cars at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

President-elect Barack Obama pauses before answering a question during his meeting with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., not shown, Monday, Nov. 17, 2008, at his transition office in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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Something bad happens, like 9/11, it's the death of irony. Something good happens, like Obama's win, it's the death of irony. When will someone proclaim the death of iceberg lettuce? I'm sick of it.
- Colson Whitehead

Now that people have seen something happen they never thought possible, their sarcasm processors have kind of gone into shock. - Joe Randazzo, editor of The Onion

Irony is a diminishing act. But there are some events that are so big that they almost imply an obligation not to diminish it by clever comparisons. - Roger Rosenblatt, ex-Time columnist who wrote that 9/11 could 'end the age of irony'

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Irony Is Dead Again? Gee Thanks, Obama