Stephen Colbert

 

I’ve been thinking about it ever since Wednesday, and I’m not sure whether to tip m hat or wag my finger at Stephen Colbert.  The host of the popular Colbert Report on Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert has recently announced that he will be running for the President of the United States of America in their upcoming 2008 elections.  While it’s not unusual to see popular people run for office, I found it a little odd that Mr. Colbert was only going to run in his home state of South Carolina.  Nobody could expect to win a Presidential vote or nomination by limiting themselves to just one state.  A wag of my finger!

But that’s when it hit me.

Stephen Colbert is one heck of a political analyst and, as such, has likely been disappointed with the ’same-old same-old’ we see in Washington.  Politicians have had a pretty hard time selling themselves to the public in recent years, so voter turnout has been steadily declining.  This problem can be seen in several countries all over the world, so what can politicians do to gain the public’s trust and vote?  With the lackluster faith in our polititians, most of us either refuse our right to vote or cast ballots for someone just to prevent the person we hate from getting into office.  "I don’t like Bob, but I’ll be damned if I let Henry get elected."

What a great system.

So rather that simply cover the race in his show’s "Indecision 2008" segment, he will join the race to the top in his home state of South Carolina.  Colbert rarely appears out of character on camera, so it will be interesting to see how well his campaign goes.  If he remains the bible-thumping, administration-supporting, rule-enforcing, self-centered self-promoter while running, then I think he’ll have one of the most interesting campaign platforms ever seen in American politics.  As it stands, Colbert will likely have most of the under-40 vote and it shouldn’t take too much to garner even more support.

Because he’s running in one state alone, he’s already made it clear that he does not want the job of being the next President of the United States, which I can certainly respect.  It’s not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination, and you have people hating you just because you happen to be the current leader of one of the world’s most powerful nations.  Instead, he’ll make a great example to all the other politicians that have lost touch with the people they swore to serve.  If you want to serve the people, you’d better be able to earn our trust or make us laugh.  It’s even better if you can do both.

Thank you, Stephen Colbert.  You will undoubtedly bring the 2008 campaigns something that has been clearly lacking for the last few years:  clarity.  There isn’t another politician out there that can speak to the public half as well, and you will force them to step up their game.  Mumbling is no longer an option.

I tip my hat, sir.