Maher’s Obama rant gets reaction

Last Friday on his HBO talk show “Real Time,” liberal comic Bill Maher decided to go on a rant against Barack Obama. But not for the reasons Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh typically rail against the president.

Rather, Maher said Obama was focusing too much on his charm offense and not enough on substantive change.

“He’s getting a puppy!” Maher said on TV. “He’s eating a cheeseburger with Joe Biden! He’s taking the wife to Broadway and Paris —- this is the best season of ‘The Bachelor’ yet!”

Maher, in a phone interview Monday to promote his stand-up comedy show next week at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, said he was surprised by the reaction to this particular critique, which was posted on YouTube.

“Up until last Friday, whenever I said anything critical about him, I was getting booed by my audience because they’re liberal Southern Californians,” he said. “But on Friday, they were cheering.”

“Something has changed,” he continued. “Look —- I’m glad he got elected. But he’s not really putting it on the line against the banks, the insurance companies, the energy companies who run the country and in many ways, have ruined this country.”

Heck, Maher even found a way to give (gasp!) George W. Bush props. “He had terrible ideas but what I admired about him is he didn’t care who liked him or didn’t like him or what feathers he ruffled.”

Maher said Obama only has a short window of time to tackle major reforms such as health care. “If he doesn’t boldly move now, things may get tougher after the midterm elections when the party in power usually loses seats. The time is now. And face it: The Republicans are the weakest they’ve been in generations.”

The agnostic ruffled plenty of feathers last year with his documentary “Religulous,” which questions people of faith and the concept of religion. But it became the highest grossing documentary last year, pulling in $13 million.

“The feedback has been phenomenal,” Maher said. “I still get hundreds of e-mails every week from people just saying thank you for making a statement about religion a lot of people won’t say.”

Maher went on to compliment Obama for acknowledging “nonbelievers” in two speeches.

Although Maher has gotten death threats for years, he shrugs them off. “I’ve been saying controversial things on TV since 1993,” he said.

And he enjoys coming into “red” states such as Georgia. “The free-thinking types of people come out of the woodwork,” he said. “The people are so happy to see someone who thinks like them.”

Comedy preview

Bill Maher

8 p.m. June 26. $38.50-$71.50. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Marietta. 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com.