With regard to Peggy
Noonan's March 16 Declarations column "Road
to the Nut House":
America has been gravitating toward a celebrity presidency for 80
years, a political development that has accompanied changes in media
and technology. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first president to
exploit the power of radio and John F. Kennedy was the first telegenic
president who understood and mastered television. Post-JFK, every
presidential election that included one media-savvy, star-power
personality (Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) was decided
in that candidate's favor. In 2008, Barack Obama added the power of the
Internet to the power of television and media adulation and became the
first Democratic presidential candidate since 1964 to win more than 50%
of the popular vote.
Running for president always required candidates with a somewhat
heightened degree of hubris and narcissism. America's celebrity-worship
culture, however, now has pushed those mildly negative egotistical
characteristics to the nth degree. President Clinton's saxophone skill
and his boxer shorts disclosure were initial signs of the age of reality
TV candidates. Looking back at Bill Clinton and John Edwards, is it
really a shock that they were having affairs and were perfectly willing
to lie about them? Both might be brilliant and well intentioned, but
both also basked in their celebrity status.
Height has always been an advantage in presidential contests.
Now, add celebrity-like appeal, television-friendly oratorical skills
(e.g., mesmerizing words that sound beautiful and empathetic but mean
whatever the listener wants them to mean), and, if possible, connection
to special blocs of voters (ethnic groups, women, etc.). None of those
significant political advantages necessitates sanity and most preclude
genuine humility. As long as the American electorate swoons over
celebrity politicians and feeds unhealthy desires for veneration, voters
get exactly the candidates they deserve.
Bill Phelps
Note from KBJ: Nobody can accuse either of the Bushes of being a celebrity.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 