The other day I watched two historic segments from the Steve Colbert show.
One featured President Obama and the other Hillary Clinton.
Both were great! I mean phenomenal! Entertainment at its best!
Obama taking Colbert's place and ridiculing himself in the third person was
hysterical. Hillary's going toe-to-toe with Colbert in a namedropping
contest was brilliantly funny.
Whoa! I've still got major giggles, folks. I'm burping up so many LOLs I'm
even having trouble writing this!
But it goes deeper. Beyond being incredibly entertained, the astonishing thing for me
personally was how much I really really liked them. Yes . . . I am being sincere!
I've certainly pulled no punches on either the President or Ms. Clinton in previous blogs.
Anyone who has read my stuff knows I'm no fan of either. (What an understatement, eh?)
But on a 'like' scale of 1 to 10?
No doubt about it . . . they are both solid 10s!
Which brings me to the point of this piece.
What has likeability got to do with competence or leadership?
In this age where the science of crafting image and shaping perception has
reached levels of sophistication no one could have anticipated even ten
years ago, it hardly comes as a surprise that public figures look good,
always say the right things, know how to pour on the charm, excel at
doing everything needed to have people follow them around like they're
warm-toasted S'mores Bars at a fat farm for insatiable sugar-addicts.
Unfortunately, like a lot of things these days that are finger-lickin' good and a
belly full of lip-smackin' fun, that doesn't mean they're good for you.
As with way too much in our advertising-heavy, product-saturated consumer
world, we must carefully read the label and do some serious research to see
what's going on behind all the affable hype and feel-good packaging.
As I have argued before, conflating beauty contests and entertainment
with politics is a dangerous game. Making the election of political
leaders like choosing the prom king and queen doesn't just trivialize
democracy. It destroys it.
Sure, feeling warm and cuddly about our government officials is a pleasant
thought, and maybe desirable on some superficial level. Both Obama and
Ms. Clinton exude charm, are amiable and very videogenic. Judging from
their acclaimed guest appearances on Comedy Central, both have all the
right qualities to host their own television shows, either serious and
thoughtful, or comedic and fun. That's well and good.
But the true measure of constructive, visionary leadership is not how
effectively they deliver one-liners, what nice people they appear to be,
how down-to-earth they are, or even how picture-perfect they are with
their families.
The true measure is on the larger national and international stages what set
of values they represent, what ideas they offer, what plans they embrace and
and promote, what promise of peace and prosperity they achieve, what path
they lay out for shaping the future of America, both for us and generations
to come.
I say we keep things in perspective.
Both of these American icons are very talented people. Isn't there some
Biblical injunction about proper use of talents? I sincerely believe we
should put their real talents to work.
Sarah Palin __ god help us __ has her own subscriber television channel.
Much admired and forward-looking patriot that she is, dear Sarah has
laid the groundwork. Let's take the baton and run with it!
We've seen what these two are capable of on TV.
How about a Barack Obama Channel?
A Hillary Clinton Channel?
Why not?
This is what America is all about. It's what make our nation great!
Television!
On the other hand, as to our Nobel Peace Prize President and the lady
who engineered the destruction of Libya as a nation . . . let's be clear
about our political future.
We've endured Obama's stealthy alliance with the neocons, corporatists, the
imperialists and oligarchs. We've found every excuse in the book for his
putting the needs of banks and corporations before the needs of the
people. We've averted our gazes as he started more wars and killed
innocent citizens with drones. Not much we can do about that now.
But we still have a choice with Ms. Clinton. Forget the pretty picture on the
outside of the package, folks. Start reading the fine print on the label before
it's too late. Let's nudge this self-serving sociopath out of politics and into
show business where she belongs.
The Hillary Channel: Name-Dropping, Self-Aggrandizing Hillary, All Day Everyday 24-7!
I like it!
Enough said. To end this on a positive note, I will now throw a bone to the
diehard Obama apologists and lets-elect-a-pair-of-ovaries-for-president
Hillary supporters out there, who may have accidentally stumbled on my
blog site, showing what a doggone open-minded guy I am, proving along
the way that I am without question, a truly gracious blog host.
Appearing below are the two Stephen Colbert show segments that had me
belly-laughing, happy-slapping-my-knee, and rolling on the floor with
delight. Together they provide the perfect laugh track for the final
self-indulgent excesses of an empire in decline.
Enjoy!
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
