It’s bad when people are laughing at you in politics, but as the New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, proved again on Wednesday, it can be great to laugh at yourself.
De Blasio created a few smiles in the city a day after a supposedly “historic” blizzard failed to materialize, angering residents over what turned out to be a gratuitous subway closure and travel ban. The mayor’s inspired stroke was not to get defensive, but to record and release a “dramatic reading” of an Onion article that lampooned his doomsaying in advance of the storm.
In doing so, de Blasio joined a long line of politicians, from Ronald Reagan to Hillary Clinton, who have looked for a little political bump in a bit of self-mockery.
On Monday, in a breathless news conference before the arrival of Winter Storm Juno, de Blasio said: “You can’t underestimate this storm. This is not a typical storm. It’s going to pack a real punch.”
On Wednesday, in a dramatic reading posted to his own website, he said: “The furious hoarfrost bearing down upon us knows neither mercy nor reason, and all within the five boroughs will perish.”
You can listen to De Blasio’s entire reading of the Onion article here:
The willingness to self-satirize recalled many earlier examples from the world of politics. There was the Visa ad Bob Dole made in 1997, after losing the presidential election to Bill Clinton. In the ad, a diner waitress in Dole’s Kansas hometown asks him for identification when he tries to pay with a check. “I just can’t win,” he quips.
Hillary Clinton has been making fun of her penchant for pantsuits for 15 years. New York magazine has done the hard archival work here, starting with this gem from Clinton’s November 2000 Senate victory speech: “We started this great effort on a sunny July morning in Pinder’s Corner on Pat and Liz Moynihan’s beautiful farm … and 62 counties, 16 months, three debates, two opponents, and six black pantsuits later, because of you, here we are.”
Ronald Reagan, who was almost 70 when he took office for his first term as president, was not above making fun of his age. “Just to show you how youthful I am, I intend to campaign in all 13 states,” he said.
There are a few lesser practitioners of the form out there among younger politicians. New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie, who has weighed more than 500lb, joked in 2009 that he was “a big fat winner” and ate a doughnut on air during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.
Rounding out the list is Florida senator Marco Rubio, who is not at all trying to live down the moment in 2013 when, halfway through delivering the Republican response to the State of the Union address, he had to stop for a drink of water.
