This story is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Toward the end of his annual speech to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in the nation’s capital Saturday night, President Obama got “angry.” Aided by Luther, his “anger translator” (a character played by Keegan-Michael Key, from the Comedy Central show Key and Peele), President Obama launched into an epic tirade against climate deniers on Capitol Hill.
For those who aren’t familiar with the set-up of Obama/Luther skits on Key and Peele: “No-drama Obama” (played by Jordan Peele) can’t risk getting angry in public, so Luther translates what he’s really thinking, behind all the political soft-ball rhetoric. It’s quite brilliant.
When the real Obama got around to mentioning the big challenge of climate change on Saturday, Luther chimed in, filling in Obama’s supposedly unspoken rage: “Hey, listen y’all, if you haven’t noticed, California is bone-dry! It looks like a trailer for the new Max Max movie up in there. You all think that Bradley Cooper came here because he wanted to talk to Chuck Todd? He needed a glass of water! Come on!”
Eventually, though, Obama didn’t need his anger translator anymore:
“Look at what’s happening right now. Every serious scientist says we need to act,” Obama said, pitch and volume rising. “The Pentagon says it’s a national security risk. Miami floods on a sunny day, and instead of doing anything about it, we’ve got elected officials throwing snowballs in the Senate! It is crazy! What about our kids?! What kind of stupid, short-sighted, irresponsible bull– …”
Luther finally intervenes:
“All due respect, sir? You don’t need an anger translator. You need counseling.”
