ANNAPOLIS, Md. (May 28, 2021) Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the graduation address as the guest speaker during the U.S. Naval Academy’s Class of 2021 graduation and commissioning ceremony at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dana D. Legg/Released)
At the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker sends up Kamala Harris’s awful speech to the Naval Academy’s 2021 graduates (watch it in all its cringeworthy awkwardness below) writing:
Have you heard the one about the Marine with the rolled-up solar panel? It wasn’t exactly Bob Hope and the USO when Kamala Harris attempted humor during a commencement address to graduating sailors and Marines at the Naval Academy last week.
Addressing the next generation of America’s warriors, the vice president cracked a quip about how they’d just love all that green investment she and Joe Biden are planning: “Just ask any Marine today, would she rather carry 20 pounds of batteries or a rolled-up solar panel, and I am positive she will tell you a solar panel—and so would he.”
Ms. Harris’s attempt at gender-inclusive, environment-friendly comedy elicited an appreciative and raucous peal of laughter—but only from her. The rest of the audience looked like they wanted to crawl under the nearest solar panel.
To be fair, It’s not easy to make culturally compliant humor. The best humor is often countercultural, even downright offensive. You can’t be woke and funny.
Picture the scene: a roomful of the vice president’s finest young staffers all wielding their critical-theory degrees from Sarah Lawrence and Amherst, brainstorming lines for an unfamiliar audience of brave young fighters.
“They’re Marines, right? Haven’t they fought a few famous battles?”
Hasty googling.
“OK. How about something about Montezuma or Tripoli?”
More googling. Awkward silence.
“Seriously? Wouldn’t that be, like, unbelievably offensive to, like, Latinx and Africans?”
“Oh right. Sorry.”
More silence.
Uncertainly, “How about a gag that combines a reference to our passionate commitment to green energy with an emphasis on full gender equality?”
“Awesome. I’ll get on it.”
Ms. Harris’s face-plant was no better than her boss’s a week earlier, during his address to the Coast Guard Academy. At least Ms. Harris didn’t try to break the awkward silences after the failed jokes by telling the audience they were “really dull,” as Mr. Biden did.
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