The New York Times wrote during campaign 2008 that late night comics were having a hard time cracking jokes about Barack Obama.  This year, President Obama was treated with kid gloves. Leno, Letterman and Conan largely stood in a cone of silence when it came to prodding the Prez.  But after scandals and bumbled policy initiatives, the once-airtight Obama spin control has given way to a White House spinning out-of-control.  Late Night TV finally rises to the occasion — and the honeymoon is officially over.

This hilarious clip would have been unthinkable just 3 or 4 months ago.  The wildly enthusiastic Conan audience cheers.  Hilarity ensues.  And Obama, Axelrod and Company find they’re not in Kansas anymore.

2008 marked a departure from the memorable, more cordial years of Chevy Chase as a clumsy Gerald Ford or Dana Carvey’s hilarious H.W. Bush: “wouldn’t be prudent.”  Fey was downright mean.

For her part, Palin was an easy target — a conservative woman and mother. And seemingly abhorrent to Fey and friends, Palin had small town values, a small town family and — as Fey chafed on Palin’s world view — “I can see Alaska from my house.”  The impersonations were sometimes funny, but more often foul.  ”I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers…,” Fey roasted during one of the skits… an innuendo on Palin’s pregnant, unwed daughter.  Her satire strayed from the issues into catty, sexist territory — intellect, pregnancy, family attacks and even sexual riffs.

Lucky for Fey, she runs with a highly elitist, bi-coastal posse — the NY-LA intellectuals who are free from the burdens of conservatism.  They’re free thinkers who celebrate their contribution to the world as they scream at the doorman for not having their Town Car ready.  Palin was an unknown from a far away place, she didn’t stand a chance with this crowd.

Conveniently, this cadre of smarty pants run NBC.  When the Palin impersonation generated some water cooler buzz, NBC gave her a whole SNL special, and then another and another — right before the election.  By then, Palin and Fey had become fused (at least on TV).  She was good at playing Palin.  Too good.  If you turned down the volume, it was impossible to tell the two apart.  The result was, at the very least, chinks in the Alaska governor’s armor.

Fey’s Emmy is just icing on the cake; Saturday Night Live ought to be crying “Thank You!” to Ms. Fey for making the expiring show relevant again.  The irony has not been lost on most observers: it was another woman who utterly ripped apart one of the first women on a Presidential ticket.  Can one imagine Eddie Murphy returning to SNL to lambast Obama night after night weeks before the campaign?  And NBC clearing blocks in their prime time schedule in order to promote more time to bash Barack?  Of course not.

Ironically, Fey’s years of appearances on SNL were never as remarkable as her return to play Palin. When Fey starred in the forgettable “Baby Mama,” some critics noticed a lack of big screen pizzazz.  Funny how a feisty governor from Wasilla can move blockbuster-sized crowds, riveting American TV viewers overnight during the 2008 Convention, but Fey couldn’t turn years of training on SNL and stand up comedy into any great cinematic effect.  Okay, now I’m being cruel — apologies.

This is one backbiting impersonation that has had its 15 minutes.  In a nation that craves to sort its entertainers and politicians into nice, neat bins, please file Fey’s Sarah Palin ’satire’ in the heap of tiresome fads like Flash Mobs, Snoop Dogg Ring Tones and Napolean Dynamite.  Are these things the world might have been better off without?  You Betcha.

National Mall, Washington, D.C. August 1963 Peter, Paul and Mary sing the Bob Dylan song “Blowin’ in the Wind” at the civil rights March on Washington. The lyrics say, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,” and on this day the wind carried Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic speech to the ears of the entire nation.  (One of over 200 photos in “Hollywood on the Potomac“)

Never shouty, always melodic, the group fueled crowds by inspiring a peaceful form of activism by the throngs that assembled during many of their most memorable appearances on the National Mall and elsewhere.  Many of Peter, Paul and Mary’s biggest hits were penned by the granddaddy of folk, Bob Dylan, such as “Blowin in the Wind,” and “The Times They Are a Changin.”  Travers had a beautiful, harmonious voice, but she made an impact with her appearance as well — tall, blond and striking on stage when flanked by guitarists Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow.

If one were to assign a poltiical label to Mary Travers, it most certainly would be ‘liberal.’ She sang out against nuclear energy, and war of nearly every kind and for peace in Central America in the 1980’s.  But her folk trio was a tour-de-force when rallying millions toward the realization that the time had come for civil rights in the early 1960’s.  They performed “If I Had A Hammer” at the 1963 March on Washington, just before Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There’s no doubt, that day will live on infinitely for America and Mary Travers was there.

Travers leaves a legacy of powerful folk music, but also a timely lesson: no matter what one’s political beliefs, we all owe it to ourselves to listen and make up our own minds.  Did she always have a just cause?  She certainly thought so, and thank God she lived in a country where her voice could be heard.