One of the smartest lines of dialogue in Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ (2017) was so subtle, the actor who delivered the line didn’t realize it was a joke.
“I didn’t even know that was a joke,” Bradley Whitford said of his character’s now-famous “I would have voted for Obama for a third term if I could” line in ‘Get Out’ (2017).
In a GQ profile, he explained why the joke sailed past him: “what’s really funny to me is, I worked on his campaigns. I love Obama.” He added that he probably said the same thing to Peele “without realizing that it’s the whitest thing a person could say.”
The joke is that a white dad trying to bond with his daughter’s black boyfriend over a shared love of Obama is such a common part of an over-eager “I’m one of the good ones” routine aimed at black people that it’s become a trope.
A lot of comfortable white liberals used Obama as a moral receipt: I voted for the Black president, so I can’t be part of the problem. They think it’s a get out of jail free card. Dean is using the most famous Black politician in America as a shield while he’s about to participate in a scheme that harvests Black bodies. The line is too canned, too early, and too pleased with itself — Chris’s tight smile is the tell that he isn’t impressed.
Whitford rose to fame as the fast-talking and arrogant, but loyal, political strategist Joshua Lyman on The West Wing. In real life, the actor is a longtime liberal voice and vocal Trump critic, which is exactly what makes the miss land — and why he was perfectly cast. By not getting the line, he outed himself as one of the people Peele’s satire was aiming at.
Peele has said the movie is about a brand of racism that is all smiles on the surface, but still treating Black people as a resource underneath. “Third term” is the extra twist. The Constitution already forbids it, so Dean isn’t even making a political argument. He doesn’t actually have to vote for Obama again. He’s just announcing how good he is, classic virtue signaling. By the end of the movie, the line is even funnier and colder, because the house that loved Obama is the same house running the auction.
