( CNN ) -- `` Saturday Night Live '' was formed in the crucible of the mid-1970s , when Watergate brought respect for politicians to all-time lows , the counterculture was taking over comedy , and many television viewers were seeking out something fresh and bold . Fred Armisen played Barack Obama in a talked-about sketch Saturday night on `` Saturday Night Live . '' It was a powerful combination -- and after 34 years , the combination of `` SNL '' and politics can still strike sparks among political observers . The most recent example came this past weekend when Fred Armisen , as President Obama , chided `` those on the right '' for saying that he was `` turning this great country into something that resembles the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany . '' Not true , said Armisen as Obama . `` When you look at my record , '' he said , `` it 's very clear what I 've done so far -- and that is nothing . '' Watch the sketch -- and the reaction » . The sketch has caused a rumble among the inside-the-Beltway chattering classes and New York news nabobs . Wrote Washington Post blogger Jonathan Capehart , `` When your 'friends ' start talking about you like this -- and friends with a huge megaphone and a feel for the national mood -- the White House should listen . '' `` Humor with some truth in it is always dangerous . Make no mistake , a drumbeat of belittlement can damage a president , '' added CNN political contributor Ed Rollins in a column . The White House had no comment when asked about the sketch by CNN . `` SNL '' cast members were n't available for interviews , an NBC representative said . `` SNL '' creator Lorne Michaels also turned down an interview request but has said the show does n't take sides . `` I think 'SNL 's ' role is , the moment they 're in power , we 're the opposition , '' he told CNN 's Alina Cho last year . `` We 're not partisan . We 're not , you know , we 're not putting on anything that we do n't believe is funny . '' Video gallery : `` SNL '' takes on presidents through the years » . The recent sketch is indicative of the end of Obama 's honeymoon , Syracuse University pop culture professor Robert Thompson says , but he does n't want to read more into it than that . `` Comedy is about going after the people in power , '' he said . The president has also taken recent shots from `` The Daily Show '' and `` Real Time with Bill Maher . '' `` What this says is that the comedy-industrial complex has turned its sights on the reigning president of the United States , '' he said . But , he added , `` I would n't put this into the meme category , '' referring to concepts that travel so quickly they take on a life of their own , such as Tina Fey 's Sarah Palin sketches from last year . `` The [ Obama ] sketch was n't that funny . '' Indeed , the show 's overall impact is often mixed , observes Slate columnist and Rutgers media studies professor David Greenberg . It can `` capture or intensify '' a storyline that 's being passed through the news media , but the show is more a barometer that can change with events . `` It 's not incapable of influencing things , '' he said , noting the show 's slash-and-burn '70s satire and Fey 's Palin parody . `` But since the early '80s , those moments are pretty rare . ... You 'll see good impersonations but not the underlying critique you had with , say , Dan Aykroyd as [ Richard ] Nixon . '' Besides , he added , the Obama sketch may have titillated the politico-media crowd , but he wonders whether its impact went any wider . `` I 'm a political junkie , '' he said , `` and this is the first I 've heard of it . '' Indeed , the ratings for the episode were a far cry from last year 's Palin-fest -- from a 7.3 rating for the same week in 2008 , to 4.7 -- and the Armisen sketch did n't get the frenzied online dispersion the Palin sketches did . iReport.com : 'SNL ' wo n't hurt Obama . However , Obama should be concerned about one thing , observes Thompson . In general , `` SNL '' mocked previous presidents ' personal characteristics , such as Clinton 's outsized appetites or George W. Bush 's struggles with spoken English . With Obama -- who lacks the same kind of easily caricatured traits , Thompson says -- the show went after his record . `` In some ways , '' Thompson said , `` he 's vulnerable to more serious damage . ''
Recent `` Saturday Night Live '' sketch attacked President Obama . Political pundits , media seized on sketch as meaningful . It marks end of honeymoon , one observer says , but probably not much more . `` SNL '' can `` intensify '' storylines but is mostly a barometer , says expert .