A recent post at The New Inquiry does a commendable job of pinning down the strange political vantage point that is inhabited by the political meme. The writer, one Nathan Jurgenson, conducts a media-studies analysis that also happens to frame exceedingly well the political posturing that comes with the proliferation of a meme.
A large component of my own interest falls on the question of the relationship between the deployment of irony in political situations and the effects it’s intended to have. If this is a question that strikes your fancy, this article is highly recommended.
It’s a good article, though he stays inside the political boundaries of current meme culture—might have been interesting to explore the root of memes and where it means we’re going. There’s an interesting argument from somewhere (Can’t find the article) that basically argues the meme is dead/dying.