Let’s see, Obama on Letterman. The First Lady candidates on The View. Oprah wanting no parts of Palin. Am I the only one who thinks this weird melding of the entertainment media and politicians is just wrong?
I don’t want to see my future leaders chit-chatting or wise-cracking with Dave or Barbara or Oprah. I care about their records and where they (or their husbands) stand on political issues. I want serious leaders who are above the media — not panderers to it.
It’s one thing for candidates to appear on FoxNews or CNN or McNeill/Lehrer where they’ll be grilled on their positions. I can’t quite imagine any such grilling or meaningful discussion happening on a Hollywood or New York or Chicago variety-oriented talk show. Okay, maybe Sarah Palin could talk about the challenges of raising a special needs child — typical Oprah fare. Or Michelle Obama could talk about her taste in fashion à la The View. What can Barack Obama possibly offer Dave’s “I just want to laugh and then fall asleep” audience besides rhetoric or the latest joke he heard on the campaign trail? Well, he could flash his million-dollar smile, I suppose.
Are other country’s leaders kowtowing to their entertainers?
Why should any of these entertainers presume to foist their political leanings on me? I don’t need or want to know what the Dixie Chicks think of Bush or that Gwyneth Paltrow just had to escape the awful U.S. or where George Clooney stands on anything. These people are actors and singers — entertainers. They’re not the world’s great thinkers or people who make their living following government issues. They act, sing, dance, go to parties, make buckets of money. They just happen to have a venue — but not one that’s intended to be a soapbox.
I’d feel better voting for any candidate who chose not to be part of the entertainment media circus — but I doubt any will. The chance to be seen by millions of Americans — no matter what the venue — is likely too good to pass up. Pity.
The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win
without proving that you are unworthy of winning.
~ Adlai E. Stevenson
Writing by Ear 