In 1993, the inauguration of Bill Clinton left the Gen X denizens of the U.S. with a sense of potential hope for the future. Well, if not hope, at least relief that a slightly younger white man had taken office, therefore was perhaps capable of greater empathy. And, in so many ways, he was. One certain appendage in particular feeling all the things for everyone, mainly women. Thus, there was no more perfect president to disparage in the “all in good fun” spirit of SNL (before it became the “we all fucking hate you” spirit that has characterized the show in the post-Trump era) than one, William J. Clinton.
And because Madonna herself established early on a penchant for re-creating the Marilyn Monroe aesthetic (the “Material Girl” video being the most concrete example), she was the natural choice to coo “Happy inauguration to you” as a sendup of Marilyn’s original performance in honor of JFK’s birthday on May 29, 1962, turning the milestone of forty-five that year (so young, so young). To boot, Madonna previously acted as Marilyn in her 1985 appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live, playing into the joke about Monroe’s affairs with both John and Bobby Kennedy, further caricaturizing the rumor by also including Teddy and Joe Sr. on her list of conquests–giving the family plenty of reason to want to murder her. What’s more, Madonna’s loose obsession with re-creating the glam and tragic life of Monroe (up until a point–after all, she once told her dance teacher, Christopher Flynn, that gay men would never worship her because she wasn’t tragic enough) also led to a dalliance with JFK Jr. in the late 80s (while still married to Sean Penn), with Jackie refusing to acknowledge the relationship by constantly sidestepping “John John’s” attempts to arrange a meeting.
To that end, Jan Hooks’ interpretation of a highly jealous Hillary Clinton glaring at Madonna (as Phil Hartman’s Bill looks on in awe) speaks volumes about how the blonde sex bomb trope will forever prove effective in getting across the image of harlotry. Of a temptress who holds more responsibility in bringing out the “little devil” called a man’s penis than the lecher himself. It was a time in America when this sort of sendup could still be painted as humorous. Solid gold in terms of garnering instant laughs. Alas, in the Not My President’s Days that have occurred since 2016, it bears noting that this type of sketch lampooning a classic moment in political/pop culture history would simply prove to land with a thud. After all, what would SNL do? Have Kim Kardashian (who has already seen fit to ally herself with the Jackie look in an unfortunate 2017 spread for Interview) sing to Alec Baldwin as we try to force a har har har out without thinking about the phrase forever seared in all of our minds (“grab ’em by the pussy,” in case you somehow forgot).
No, 1993 might have been the last truly tailor-made moment to dredge up the Monroe-Kennedy ribbing to such perfection. And although there have been many parodies of the iconic moment (see below for examples in addition to Madonna’s), none will ever be quite so crystallized in encapsulating the last time it was actually funny. With Ellen Cleghorne playing Whoopi Goldberg (fresh from applauding Mike Meyers as Barbra Streisand leaving the stage), she comments before introducing Madonna, “Yeah, inauguration. They’re sayin, you know, it’s like a new beginning because like Bush you know, he didn’t know, ’cause we was sayin’ ‘the people are hungry’ and he’s sayin’ ‘Barbara, where’s the dog?'” She then builds the audience up further with the announcement, “All the way from…I don’t know where the sista came from, but ya know the sista is bad. And she’s here tonight.”
And as M takes the stage in a similar gown while doing her over the top imitation of Marilyn’s baby voice, the lesbianic twist at the end (involving Chelsea, not Hillary, okay?) brings the sketch firmly into the 90s–specifically that part of the 90s where everything Madonna did had to be oversaturated with sexual debauchery. Before Clinton’s own did him in. And yes, how did a blow job result in an impeachment for Big Willy but every other possible offense has not for the Orange One? No wonder there’s been an increasingly rallying cry for a National First Ladies’ Day to at least somewhat mitigate the fact that celebrating President’s Day is tantamount to celebrating Rapists Who Get Away With Everything Day. Then again, Melania rather falls into that category too. So how about just scrapping the whole concept and calling it Sacco and Vanzetti Day, or Björk Day (who, apparently, is also listed as a “notable anarchist“)?
