Obama- Our First Reality TV President

Can he make it to the final?

"You are what you eat", or more properly, 'tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are' said the 18th Century French epicure Brillant-Savarin.

In France, eating was (and still is) everything.

In America, we don't care much about food.

But we love our entertainment.

In America we might say - tell me what you watch and I will tell you what you are.

or, You Are What You Watch.

In our case, we watch TV.

And TV, as Neil Postman noted more than 40 years ago, dictates who we are.

In the 1960's, television was a relatively new power on the horizon, and it came at the same time as a seminal election - Kennedy vs. Nixon.

It was our first TV election, and in the very first televised debates, Kennedy pummeled Nixon.

Kennedy pummeled Nixon, that is, if you were watching it on TV.

If you were listening to it on the radio, Nixon beat Kennedy.

Nixon was made for radio.

He had a five-o'clock shadow that made him look sinister

He tended to sweat - a lot

He refused to wear make-up.

Kennedy, on the other hand, was made for TV.

They loved each other.

And so it came to pass that JFK became our first TV President.

Movie star good looks and an easy manner in front of the camera.  Not necessarily traits that have anything to do with leadership or ability.  Traits that have a lot to do with getting elected in a world of TV.

Fast forward 50 years or so and we are now a nation that spends 5 hours a day watching TV.

And we have been doing this for two generations.

We are nation shaped by what we watch on TV.

And what do we watch now?

Reality Shows.

And what is the essence of a Reality Show?  That anyone can become a superstar overnight, regardless of background. We love the 'unknown' who rockets to the top in an instant.  It's an old dramatic technique, since the days of the Greeks. The Deux - ex -Machina.  The miraculous appearance of the superman who was amongst us all the time but we just didn't know - the Mister Smith Goes To Washington to 'save the day'.

There is a reason American Idol is our top rated show, and has been for years.

It's the American Dream.

There's also a reason there are a host of similar shows.

America's Top Model

Britain's Got Talent

The X-Factor

And so on.

Why should our elections be any different?

Aren't they just one more Reality Show?

Aren't they just another televised talent show where we all get to vote on our favorite?

How exciting is that?

And since our elections are our biggest and most expensive and most extravagent Reality Show, doesn't it seem fitting that our aspiration for the 'winner' should refect our passion for the underdog? The unknown? The hero who will suddenly appear and rocket to the top?

Yes

It is true

Barack Obama, nice guy though he may be, is in fact Kelly Clarkson, in another mode.

And as such, is it such a surprise that a hitherto unknown talent with almost no track record who is catapulted to the top turns out to be a long-run disappointment?

Anyone buy any Kelly Clarkson albums lately?

Anyone got Reuben Stoddart on their iPods?

I don't normally delve into politics here, but this is more about TV and media than politics.

Maureen Dowd, in today's NY Times wrote:

Three years ago, Barack Obama’s unlikely presidential dream was given wings by rapturous Iowans — young, old and in-between — who saw in the fresh-faced, silky-voiced black senator a chance to leap past the bellicose, rancorous Bush years into a modern, competitive future where we once more had luster in the world.

“We are choosing hope over fear,” Senator Obama told a delirious crowd of 3,000 here the night he won the Iowa caucuses.

But fear has garroted hope, as America reels from the latest humiliating blows on the economy and in Afghanistan. The politician who came across as a redeemer in 2008 is now in need of redemption himself.

Faced with a country keening for reassurance and reinvention, Obama seems at a loss. Regarding his political skills, he turns out to be the odd case of a pragmatist who can’t learn from his mistakes and adapt.

Many of his Democratic supporters here, who once waited hours in line just to catch a glimpse of The One, are disillusioned.

But is it any surprise?

And now, looking at the lineup of candidates to run against Mr. Obama, it increasingly looks like "Who Wants To Be A President", seaons 2.