Obama's BlackBerry

This? This is the big plan to save the publishing industry?

“Now, for the first time, ‘We The People’ are privy to our new leader’s epistolary back-and-forths on his wily hand-held device. Weíre about to discover that his emails (and the replies, from his wife and daughters, Biden, Palen, Rush, Hannity, the new first puppy and even Bush) are so tuned in to the language of electronic correspondence they come hilariously close to the brink of legibility.”

That’s a blurb for ‘Obama’s Blackberry,’ by Kasper Hauser. Essentially, it’s a picture book that pretends to be the contents of Obama’s handheld communications device. This concept has several flaws, but allow me to exemplify the most glaring. This is the text show more message conversation that led to me reviewing this book.

"LeisurelyEditor: Hey, you wanna review a book people might actually read this week?
Da_HeMan: You know I prefer more high-minded fare.
LeisurelyEditor: Wut I meant was, do you want to keep your job?
Da_HeMan: What did you have in mind?"

As it turns out, most people are tremendously boring – that’s why no one ever wants to read your journal. Even when you fill in Sarah Palin and Barack Obama for me and my editor, it’s still not all that funny.
I may be spoiling the book for you, but there are only four jokes in the whole publication: Sarah Palin is gullible, Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks he’s ‘Rambo,’ Joe Biden doesn’t do much and Bill Clinton is horny. Almost every page involves a variation on one of those themes.

This is not a premise for a full-fledged book (which makes sense, since it’s only 144 pages long). It’s barely a premise for a blog, which I imagine is where the idea came from.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the Internet is a wonderful thing, filled with all manner of LOLcats, tweets and various other creations that, by all rights, never should have existed. But there’s a reason we find people who post Craigslist personals, Pete Hoekstra and their ilk hilarious – the cost.

Comedy works on the Internet because: a) it’s a short-form medium, and b) it’s free. We don’t give anything (save our eyeballs to advertisers), so we don’t expect a lot. Comedy depends on expectations ñ if you aren’t expecting much, it’s usually funnier than something that’s over-hyped. This is why Larry the Cable Guy was able to have a career for five or six years.

After the Internet has been downloaded, proofread, bound and had a price sticker slapped on it, it’s no longer funny. Hell, it doesn’t even work for newspapers and they were around before the Internet. I’m going to enlighten you with a novel concept I’ve discovered: People don’t want to pay for things they can get for free.

All that being said, I’d recommend reading this book – in the store. Or at least, go to Amazon and click on the ‘Look inside!’ button. It’s pretty much the same thing, and you can save yourself $14 and the 20 minutes it takes to get through the whole thing. show less

I'm almost ashamed to post this, but I got it from Hachette Books as an ARC and feel ethically obliged to post a review.

Let's say up front I'm an Obama fan. This book is not about Obama, nor does it do him justice. According to the publisher " Hauser...has cracked the code with this irreverant and wildly imaginative parody of our 44th president's emails and text messages."

It's NOT that funny. This book is more the puerile tittering of a writer who thinks that just because he can write something that makes a certain segment of society smirk, it's humor. There are about 130 ficititious bb posts in this tiny little book. Less than 10 of them of really funny, about another 10 are bordering on being offensive, and the rest read like a rehash show more of various SNL skits written in IM text.

I've never found it funny to portray heads of state as boobs.(There are several "posts" from heads of middle eastern, and european politicians that posit an intellect of less than mensa level--including a particularly tasteless one about Queen Elizabeth pouting about toast points!) While I don't mind poking fun at actual gaffes, or strange theories, making up stuff about public figures to discredit them is not my cup of tea.

The repeated posts from A Lincoln regarding the sexual opportunities in the after life are absolutely not funny.

OTOH, there's Arnold's email :

"Dear Mr. President,
Listen to me: with a parachute, some RedBulls and a crossbow I could capture Bin Laden in 24 hours...."

The ongoing series from the Terminator is actually fairly funny.

Maybe it's my demographic...I'm almost ready for Social security, I was raised to be respectful of others, I don't own a blackberry nor do I have a Twitter account, so the raunchy, off-color, 'fun-poking' isn't funny to me. I even do my IMs in real English with punctuation!

If you can find a free copy, grab it,tuck it into your purse or briefcase to read while you wait for the dentist and then leave it in the 'guest' room. It will take less than the time to read then it takes to boil a pot of pasta. show less

A look at the messages that to and from the ubiquitous Blackberry of the President of the United States. Really funny, manages to poke fun at Mr. Obama and all the political movers and players and a few others with good-natured railery. I guess a person could take some of Obama's messages as arrogant, but they didn't come off that way for me. In fact, in some of them, I could actually hear his voice in my head saying the words of the message. "Isn't going to happen." The bits with Abraham Lincoln were my least favorite parts. The bits between Mr. O and the First Lady my favorites. Oh, yeah, and the bit with the Governator. Too funny. I enjoyed it so much that I read it twice in quick succession. Helps that it's very short. Wish it was show more longer. Maybe there'll be a series. Perhaps I liked it so much because I have quite a few friends and acquaintances who are bb addicts or text messaging fools, and I Twitter, so it really hit home. show less

This is a fictional list of absurd e-mails Barack Obama sent from or received on a Blackberry. They actually mock mostly other people, with Obama usually playing the straight man. The only Obama gibe that was actually funny is the set showing Obama's search engine set to immediately alert him every time it finds the media calling him "sexy master statesman."

It's a snicker-fest, but there's something uncomfortably contemporary and postmodern about it. I was both amused and glad to be finished.

I loved this book. It was a great comical break from my regular reading. In no way should you think you will learn anything from this book other than a few punch lines to use at parties. I love the idea of Obama being a Trekkie who wants to wear his Spock ears and Renaissance faire lover who dresses in chain mail, that's my kinda guy! There were times where Obama was portrayed as an arrogant jerk but honestly if you had to deal with the group of idiots he does in this book you might be a jerk too. Very funny, short book to have in your collection that all your friends will want to look at.

In terms of a short, coffee table style book, this satire of what we might find on Obama's Blackberry is laugh out loud funny. It's short and sweet, and simply amusing. Fun little read.

Obama’s Blackberry by Kasper Hauser (a group of people, not just one man) is strictly a humor book for those among us who are politically inclined. Each page has, with a graphic of a Blackberry, texts supposedly passed back and forth between US President Obama and other world figures, leaders, and famous people. You have Oprah, McCain, Palin, George W. Bush, Geithner, Rumsfeld, Gates, Osama… you get the picture. The book exists to let us as Americans look at our leaders and laugh a little bit. You know how we love to make fun of our Presidents! Abe Lincoln sure is having fun up there in Heaven. And, well, we love to poke fun at other world leaders, too. The book doesn’t exactly portray anyone in a serious light and Icelandic navy show more books ARE made fun of. The only thing I would say is that you have to understand politics and some of the issues surrounding politicians and international relations to get the most out of Obama‘s Blackberry. If you don’t know what is going on as far as politics are concerned, you are likely going to be lost or else not get the full weight of the jokes. The book is light, small, and enjoyable. I finished it in an hour. It’s a good book for just sitting down for a while to have a laugh. show less