#742 Indignity

Politicians are beginning to annoy me. They’re encroaching on my territory.
I expect them to been seen in just about every arena of American life while they’re out on the stump. I know it’s important they appeal to the common person, that they show they’re the salt of the earth, that they roll up their sleeves and dig right in to BBQ, baked goods and now, apparently, bowling.
But what makes them think they’re comedians?
Lately it seems like part of the campaign circuit is to appear on the late night talk shows. I’m not sure when that became the norm, it seems like only a few years ago such behavior was considered unbecoming for candidates for the highest office in the land.
Maybe you’d see a scotch-tippled aging senator, but presidential candidates wouldn’t stoop to such indignity.
When they started to appear, the talk show hosts usually conducted a wooden, restrained conversation that did nothing to improve the public’s perception of either the candidate or the host.
Then the jokes started to creep in. An occasional one-liner slipped into the interview. The final zinger delivered by the presidential contender to the host’s obviously feigned delight. Obvious to me anyhow, who does that sort of humor thing a lot.
Audiences appeared to lap it up. Telling jokes was getting right up there with baby-kissing and posing with military folks as a vote getter.
And now they are doing whole bits. The other night I saw one of the candidates in a complete stand-up set piece. Trading one-liners with the host like they were in a joke-off in on The Last Comic Standing.
And, annoyingly, he was good. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised, candidates see more audiences in a week than most comics see in a year. And hitting the cadences, emphasis points, and applause lines of a stump speech is not unlike honing a “tight twenty” in stand-up.
Still. I had a hard enough time with an actor being president. I’m not sure I’m ready for a comedian.
Should court jesters be kings?
Is having a buffoon in charge of the red button a good idea?
America, ya gotta love it.