The Obama administration formulates its economic policies from the playbooks of communist philosophers Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky, joked White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee.
"I mean, it's been a long, long time since things were this bad, so we kind of had to go back and look at the old textbooks – Karl Marx, Trotsky – and the thing that we found was that it was critical that we do something," Goolsbee quipped at the 16th annual "D.C.'s Funniest Celebrity" contest.
The Obama adviser's routine mimicked the "Mr. Subliminal" skits on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in which he made a statement in a normal voice then revealed his inner thoughts sotto voce," noted Washington Examiner reporter Byron York.
See video of Austan Goolsbee's act by Politico:
The adviser, a recruit from the University of Chicago, took home the top prize with an 11-minute routine that lambasted Fox News correspondents as stupid and referred to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a "wingnut."
"There's a lot of governors," Goolsbee began, referring to potential presidential candidates for the 2012 election.
"There's obviously Sarah Palin – wingnut – from Alaska, who's the former Governor – quitter – and you just cannot rule out that by 2012 – there may be a warrant for her arrest – that she will be the nominee."
Jibing at Fox News, Goolsbee said, "If you have no skills and no education and you don't know anything, what future do you possible have – Fox News Correspondent."
The economist told the audience Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is out to get Obama.
"They might want to take somebody who was against Obama from the start, someone who's just had it out for him for some time – Hillary Clinton."
Perhaps expecting some blowback from the administration, Goolsbee jokingly concluded, "Have some sympathy for the unemployed, because when Rahm Emanuel sees my comments from this evening, I am going to be one of them."
Goolsbee also took a stab at some of the "birthers" who have speculated Obama might have been born in his father's home country Kenya.
"The president, I'm happy to say, is still pretty much the same regular guy that he always was in Chicago," Goolsbee said. "And that makes me feel good. And he and I always kinda got along. We had kinda the same temperament, we had the same sense of humor. We could really see eye to eye. We always joked we were the skinny guys with the funny names. I mean, look, I'm not saying that in 1961 we were separated – in a village in Kenya – what I'm saying is that we're friends."
On Chicago's bid for the Olympics and the president's trip to Copenhagen with the Illinois delegation, he said: "I think they're bringing the governors – if the parole board says it's OK.
On financial institutions, Goolsbee joked "our major banks – ungrateful bastards – the thing about them is that they may have stumbled a bit – bankrupting your grandma."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama was forced to distance himself from Goolsbee, then his chief economic adviser, after reporters learned Goolsbee traveled to Canada to reassure Canadians that Obama's pledge to Ohio and Pennsylvania voters to renegoiate the North American Free Trade Agreement was just campaign rhetoric.
After Obama's inauguration, Goolsbee rejoined his former Hyde Park Chicago neighbor in the White House.
Goolsbee took a leave of absence from the University of Chicago after Obama appointed him to serve as chief economist and staff director of the newly created Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker.
Obama also appointed Goolsbee to the Council of Economic Advisors, or CEA, which is charged with assisting in the development of White House economic policy.
