Jake Tapper is so funny

Is he a conservative, or perhaps a journalist? I don't know, but Jake Tapper can be delightful. Check out this question he asked Barack Obama yesterday.

TAPPER: You and Senator John McCain are both talking about the need to reach across the partisan divide.

OBAMA: Right.

TAPPER: It's not difficult to look at Senator McCain's record and see examples of times when he reached across the partisan divide at great political risk to himself: immigration reform, Gang of 14, campaign finance reform.

I know that you have worked across the aisle.

OBAMA: Absolutely.

TAPPER: But have you ever worked across the aisle in such a way that entailed a political risk for yourself?

Why would you ask a question like that of Obama other than to embarrass him. It's like asking someone in nursery school if they've done any algebra yet. Barack hasn't reached that grade level.

Besides, Barack has spent most of his short career in politics trying to get out of the job he's in - that is, running for higher office. His three years in the U.S. Senate include two years running for president and writing a book. His ten years in the state senate included, in addition to a re-election race and writing a book, a run for congress and for the U.S. Senate. If he had the time to take any political risk, his ambitions would have made it catastrophic to do so.

Oh, I almost forgot. Here's Barack's answer. Read it and smile.

OBAMA: Well, look, when I was doing ethics reform legislation, for example, that wasn't popular with Democrats or Republicans. So any time that you actually try to get something done in Washington, it entails some political risks. But I think the basic principle which you pointed out is that I have consistently said, when it comes to solving problems, like nuclear proliferation or reducing the influence of lobbyists in Washington, that I don't approach this from a partisan or ideological perspective. And the same is true when it comes to the economy. The same is true when it comes to national security. You know, this administration, the Bush administration, has made, for example, the war on terror into a sharply partisan issue. But the truth is, is that I admire some of the foreign policy of George Bush's father. And I've said so before. I think that there's a tradition of us working together to make sure that we are dealing with the threats that are out there and that we are building a consensus here in the United States. That's the kind of approach I intend to take when I'm president of the United States.

Barack could have saved himself the burden of spewing out those 195 words of babiddy babbo and simply said "no." There's more fun:

TAPPER: It's a Democratic year. And the president's numbers, poll numbers are horrible.

OBAMA: Right.

TAPPER: The right track-wrong track numbers indicate a record number of Americans think we're on the wrong track. The heads of the Republican House and Senate committees anticipate they're going to lose lots of seats.

OBAMA: Right.

TAPPER: And yet you and Senator McCain right now are pretty much tied.

OBAMA: Yes.

TAPPER: Why aren't you doing better? Why didn't you get a bounce?

OBAMA: Oh, well, you know, my understanding is the current polls show me up, despite the fact that we went through an extraordinary primary. I mean, we went through a long, long contest. And Senator Clinton was a formidable and terrific candidate.

And so while we were doing that, John McCain basically was getting a pass, both from the media, from you guys, as well as from other opponents. And so I think that that explains it.

Again, all Barack had to say was one word - "Wright."