If you thought the presidential race for the 2008 election couldn't get any duller, you'd be wrong.
Television satirist Stephen Colbert, who had been campaigning to be put on the Democratic ticket in South Carolina, was denied a spot on the ballot by the South Carolina Democratic Party late last week. Colbert had only sought to win a spot on the primary ballot in South Carolina, his home state, but did not try to get on the Republican ticket, as it would have cost $35,000. He instead opted to try to garner a spot on the Democratic side, where a spot on the ticket only costs $2,500. Obviously, the Democrats think that frugality is the key to winning an election.
They do not, however, think Colbert is the key to winning an election, as they returned his application fee and voted down his application, citing he was not a "viable nationwide candidate," bringing Colbert's political career to a halt.
The South Carolina Democratic Party has publicly said that it likes Colbert and his show, but do not think he is taking the matter as seriously as he should be, despite raising the application fee and submitting before the deadline.
Granted, it's not very likely Stephen Colbert is taking the matter very seriously. And it's even less likely he'd be voted into office. When one thinks of potential presidents, one doesn't immediately think of the guy who provided the voice of Ace on Saturday Night Live's "Ambiguously Gay Duo" cartoon.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that he shouldn't have been given a chance, even if this story vaguely resembles the plot of that Robin Williams movie that came out a while ago that nobody saw. Colbert should have been allowed to run because he would have made it interesting.
Modern politics and the current race for the White House certainly have a lot of problems, but the main one is it is excruciatingly boring. The politicians and issues seem entirely removed from the common spectrum. The whole political scene just seems so full of itself right now. And this is certainly nothing new, but it is something our generation is currently coming to terms with. Every generation, once they are given the right to vote, spends the next 15 years not voting. And this has a lot to do with apathy, but it also has a lot to do with feeling a sense of removal from the political scene. We're old enough to vote, but not quite old enough to care.
If Colbert were allowed to run, even jokingly, he would provide exactly the sort of tongue-in-cheek inside criticism that would poke fun at politics and appeal to younger voters. Every election there's a new plan to try to get younger voters to come out to the polls, but all those plans involve having a politician put on jeans and hang out in Harvard University's quad with an MTV crew. And every election, younger voters don't care. It's the wrong approach, and Colbert knows it.
Every serious politician running for our nation's highest office has written a book. But honestly, reading Barack Obama or Rudy Guliani's autobiography seems more like a chore than anything else. The books' authors seem too distant. Nobody is going to read Hillary Clinton's autobiography and think, "Ah yes, that anecdote reminds me of the time that I was the first lady." Politicians writing books is shameless self-promotion disguised as authenticity. Colbert's recent book, "I Am America (And So Can You!)," is a look at American society disguised as shameless self-promotion. The book, like Colbert's show, is a satire of the current trends, just louder. If Colbert were allowed to run in South Carolina, he would have done it like everyone else, just louder. But unlike every other candidate running, our generation would be listening.
Write to Paul at pjmetz@bsu.edu
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