The dignity of the office

John Edwards was funny. Colbert just concluded his week in Philadelphia in advance of Tuesday’s primary with quite the gets — a cameo by Hillary to kick it off, a segment with Patrick Murphy, The (Ed)Word with Edwards and a wrap-up with Obama via satellite. They all did well — Clinton “proved” her capability to solve any problem by fixing Colbert’s screen, Obama put political distractions “on notice” (and acknowledged that grizzly bears are the greatest threat to our nation), but Edwards was really good. Like…. professionally good.

He managed to weave in and out of talking about working class issues, poverty, health care with his quid pro quo for the candidates: Edwards endorsement for a top-of-the-line jet ski, a position as a spy in Prague (or on a moon base) and the declaration of national holidays in honor of his children. He was self-deprecating, re-stating that his father was a mill worker as balloon images fell on “The Word” screen in celebration of the 1,000,000th mention. Quite impressive.

I started thinking about the fact that before Bill Clinton, politicians really didn’t do late-night. I mean, yeah, Nixon said “sock it to me?” in the 70s, and Gerald Ford gave the seven word intro for Saturday Night Live (which he later regretted), but that was about it. Then in ‘88, Clinton was seeking political cover after his disastrously windy introduction of Michael Dukakis at the convention, so he went on Carson and allowed the joke to continue (Carson asked his opening question: “how are you?” while flipping over an hourglass). Obviously it worked. Four years later, he did the whole sax playing thing on Arsenio, and by now the late-night circuit is considered a must for anyone running for President, and it seems to get more important with each cycle. Four years ago, John Edwards announced his candidacy on The Daily Show, and last year, Fred Thompson did the same on Leno.

Now, there are always two knocks on this trend: one, that it perpetuates the issue-less-ness of modern day campaigns; and two, that it takes down the dignity of the office of President. On the first, lighten up. Before people take careful study of the issues, they have to at least pay attention. Entertainment has been used for centuries to get real points across, and anyone who sincerely cares about bringing new people into the process should appreciate the fact that candidates are finding ways to reach beyond the already-voting demographics.

On the second, I figure the late night shows have history on their side over the dignity elites. Andrew Jackson opened the doors of the White House for his inauguration day parties, and opponents said it was undignified. William Jennings Bryan was the first Presidential candidate to actively campaign for the White House, going from town to town making speeches while McKinley’s allies called him undignified. Even that Clinton, sax playing episode was considered undignified, not only by Bush, but by Democratic elders. Seems like the trajectory throughout all of U.S. history has been to strip away all that fake “dignity” and bring our candidates down to a more human level. And why not? I mean, the whole not establishing a monarch thing was intentional.

Even now, there are things that are considered undignified — although that is no longer the word of choice. Now, it’s just called “unpresidential” or “lacking gravitas.” So, a few years back when he was deciding if he should run again in ‘04, Al Gore appeared on SNL. That’s fine – that’s become acceptable. But he crossed some invisible line of Presidentialness when he appeared in a jacuzzi sketch with an actor playing Lieberman. Apparently, that was unpresidential.

I don’t know where the line currently stands, but I am pretty sure that it will have moved further away from the dignitistas in the coming cycles. And that’s a good thing. So, candidates — get out there and down a shot of whiskey, bowl (hopefully more than a 37), play air hockey on late night TV, “propose” to your running mate in a jacuzzi, play the sax, read the top ten lists or The Word and be funny. And if you’re not funny, that’s okay too… just laugh along with the host and at least you’ll seem like a good sport.