Presidential candidates on “American Idol”: Is there a line they can’t cross?
Hi. It’s Chad once again. Here’s hoping none of the candidates have to sing to get into the White House.
The three major remaining presidential candidates were scheduled to be on FOX’s “American Idol” last night. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain were going to give taped messages as part of “Idol Gives Back,” a telethon for needy children.
Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times has a transcript of what Obama is going to say. I couldn’t find a transcript for either Clinton or McCain.
The show says the presidential candidates will be on tonight’s edition at 8 p.m. Eastern.
The jokes are obvious: “We’re running the presidential election like ‘American Idol’.” “Well, at least Obama, Clinton, and McCain can all agree on one thing.” “Hope they don’t have to sing their way through the race.”
The bar for media appearances by presidential candidates or presidents has long-shifted since Richard Nixon asked American to “Sock it to me” on “Laugh-In.” Al Gore, while vice president, appeared on “Futurama,” a show where one of his daughters was a writer.
And the “American Idol” audience is huge and young, two things presidential candidates love to be exposed to.
But is it too much? Is there a standard where presidential candidates or presidents should not cross the line?
April 10th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Pop culture is, unfortunately, where it’s at. We want to view our sound bite candidates in a light setting. And if they’re funny, it’s a big bonus. Qualifications, why worry about that?
April 11th, 2008 at 1:20 am
of course
remember the old saying - people have the leaders they deserve? So isn’t a leader a representation of those people (at least in democracies?) So isn’t it something like respect for those people to behave in a way which can be called “great”?
Or vice versa: if you want something from someone you play their game (or at least pretend to do so) - so what does it say about their voters, if they behave like hucksters? Or at least, what does it say about what they THINK about their voters, if they behave like hucksters?
previously i heard a comment by a green politician which impressed me much. He said, that they cannot do everything they want, because their voters are focused on contents, not forms - that they watch closely and would punish them for doing the wrong things…
isn’t it a slap in the face of the young voters, that all the possible presidents think they have to use low-level-mainstream channels to reach their young target groups?
At least Obama should have known better…