video Comedy website Funny Or Die has produced a star-studded sketch comedy routine that features the cast of actors who previously portrayed US Presidents on Saturday Night Live. Jim Carrey's turn as Ronald Reagan and Dana Carvey's George Herbert Walker Bush recall a kinder, gentler, and perhaps even funnier era of SNL political mockery. The message behind the video? To help promote finance regulatory reform, and perhaps to remind viewers that much of the financial mess in which Obama finds himself, has been inherited from previous presidents. (more...)

Rolling Stone's latest cover story is a well-thought out, yet predictably supportive piece about how the 44th presidency has fared thus far. So it may come as little surprise that the issue's cover has received more attention than the article itself. Illustrated by noted street artist–cum–graphic designer Shephard Fairey, the cover image features a much more serious image of the president than his iconic "Hope" campaign posters. But is he deifying the president by using imagery that evokes a halo? Some say yes. (more...)

Howard Kurtz reports in today's Washington Post that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel pressured the corporate CEO's of the parent companies of TV networks to run Obama's press conference during prime time, instead of communicating directly with the network heads themselves. Bob Iger (CEO of ABC's parent company Disney), Jeffrey Immlet (CEO of NBC's parent company GE), and Les Moonves (CEO of CBS, which includes CBS Network among other media outlets) all received calls from Emanuel in a plea to broadcast President Obama's recent health care focused press conference, despite the hit their networks might take in the ratings. (more...)