Political themed episode of ‘South Park’ hits all the marks of a good satire

By TONY MARTIN

A show that never fails to stay relevant, “South Park” debuted a new episode on Nov. 5, not 24 hours after the election, featuring Barack Obama accepting the presidency.

Not only was there dialogue from Obama’s actual acceptance speech, but there were all sorts of hints that this episode was created in only about a day.

But once the speech is over, Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin and others turn the episode into an “Ocean’s Eleven” diamond heist. Filled with plot turns and cheesy dialogue, writers/creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone once again outdid themselves. They capture the essence of action movies in a cartoon featuring a man that has been the president-elect for only a day.

Lame? Hardly.

The sub-plot involves Obama supporters holding raging keg parties in the street, something that happened all over the country that night. Aside from the idiocy that comes with partying in the street over a Democratic presidential victory, the story illustrates the rowdiness that usually accompanies something much less formal (say a frat winning the Tugs competition).

To all of the Obama supporters who took it to the street: Show some dignity, for the love of God. Had Bush supporters partied in 2000 and 2004, college kids would have been shouting obscenities and feeling really lame and bitter about it (and this comes from a die-hard liberal).

Also, to reference the bit about President-elect Obama’s (that feels really good to say) recently deceased grandmother, I didn’t feel it was too soon. There was not much about that joke in terms of overall offensiveness, it was just a bit rushed, which is standard operating procedure for “South Park” (remember Steve Irwin?).

Another round of kudos should go out to Trey and Matt for once again outdoing themselves and creating another memorable South Park episode, of which there are more and more with every season.