I realize that the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner is supposed to be a sort of no-holds-barred roast, but isn't there a tradition that the insults are at least supposed to be funny?

I admit, my sense of humor has not been up to snuff lately, but still, I'm having trouble seeing the humor in this. While the subject of the roast at these things is supposed to be the president , "comedian" Wanda Sykes went after Rush Limbaugh with a vituperative venom that hardly seemed like comedy:

Rush Limbaugh, one of your big critics, boy, Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails. So, you're saying "I hope America fails," it's like, I don't care about people losing their homes, or their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq. He just wants the country to fail. To me, that's treason. He's not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, Sir, because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was just so strung out on oxycontin he missed his flight.

Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how 'bout that? Needs a little waterboarding, that's what he needs.

Now, I don't believe in censorship, but can anyone even begin to imagine the outcry had a right-of-center comedian directed a similar comment at Barack Obama? We'd never hear the end of it.

But in this case, I'm sure we'll all be told things like "Relax! This is just comedy!"

After all, the president laughed. That means we have a president who believes it's perfectly OK -- and even funny -- to publicly wish your enemies dead.

Hey, wait a second! Didn't Obama promise to "elevate the political discourse" when he was running?

Can someone please explain to me how hoping for someone's kidney failure (or laughing about it) elevates the political discourse?

MORE: British journalist Toby Harnden asks,

what was President Barack Obama thinking when he laughed and smiled as the comedienne wished Rush Limbaugh dead?