Jon Stewart for President. Seriously? Yes.
"The Democratic nominee might be someone from politics. A governor or senator. But maybe someone new. A businessperson, or someone from entertainment."
Senator Ron Wyden, February, 2022
I had expected Senator Wyden to suggest names of fellow senators. He didn't. He thought Democrats would do well to look outside the box of usual suspects.
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| Click here: 50 minutes |
I will suggest a name. Jon Stewart.
I heard Jon Stewart on a podcast for an hour with journalist Kara Swisher, which brought him back to mind. I first mentioned his name as a potential candidate five years ago. He was then closing out a long run as a comedy host on TV. He was a celebrity. He did serious commentary, but his brand was comedy. He would make bank-shot comments on the hypocrisy of American politics, culture, and especially the media. He was ironic. He did satire. He put distance between himself and his comments, which is the whole point of irony. Did he really mean that???? Jon Stewart back then always had an "out." Don't take me seriously, I'm just a comedian.
That was then. Now his behavior--and increasingly his brand--is social commentary. He sounds like an earnest man aching for America to be its best. He sounds like a president.
Some things have changed in the past five years.
****He isn't a brash young kid who got older on his show, but still the guy teasing the grown-ups. He is a healthy-looking 59.
****He has been off the air and quietly shed his brand as a comedian. He now has a serious show, The Problem With Jon Stewart, on Apple TV.
****Zelenskyy* happened. Zelenskyy opened the eyes of the world that comics sometimes have the skillset of a serious leader, a person with depth who can deliver a serious message.
****We saw the maturation of the kind of political comedy show Stewart pioneered, with successors like Jon Oliver, Stephen Colbert, and Samantha Bee. They changed how Americans understand political comedy. The proliferation of knock-off shows clarified that their purpose isn't simply to make people laugh. It is to make people think.
Stewart has a drain-the-swamp willingness to take on both Republican and Democratic shibboleths and hypocrisy. He can "press reset" on the Democratic orthodoxy, and call "BS" where he sees it. He has been doing it for three decades. His brand is truth-teller, not loyalist to inertia. Jon Stewart has been dealing with serious public policy issues, on a national stage, for most of his adult life. He is not a newcomer to the issues and problems facing America. He has been doing what officeholders, serious journalists, and academic policy analysts do. They gather information, draw conclusions, and share their opinions. We know Jon Stewart's take on the world far better than we do 95 of the 100 senators. Stewart is prepared for the job in a way that Donald Trump was not. We are prepared for Jon Stewart in a way we were not prepared for Donald Trump.
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This isn't hard. Would people show up? Yes. For him they would. Lindsay Graham got five people to attend his events. John Delaney, a former U.S. Representative, got dozens to come to his. Jeb Bush got several dozen. Senators Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar got about a hundred. Pete Buttigieg got several hundred. Candidate Donald Trump got two thousand. I expect Jon Stewart to do as well as Donald Trump, or better.
What will he say? I would like to find out.
I wrote two posts making the argument for Jon Stewart back in 2016. It was a good idea then and a better one now:
Jon Stewart for President: http://peterwsage.blogspot.com/2016/11/jon-stewart-for-president.html
Yes, Jon Stewart: http://peterwsage.blogspot.com/2016/11/yes-jon-stewart-television-worth.html
Ukraine President Zelensky's name is transliterated imperfectly into American English. The "yy" sound at the end of his name is pronounced in the "soft ee" form, as I learned to pronounce it at Russian class at Medford High School. This is how it is spelled in the official English language version of the Ukraine government website. I will spell it this way hereafter in the blog.
10 comments:
That’s an interesting possibility, but Jon Stewart’s political opponents have years of his shows to mine for video clips that can be used against him. Stewart might have the charisma and rhetorical skills to overcome that. We’ll see if he runs.
Watching 2024 develop is going to be fun, in a scary kind of way.
I see two problems with your proposal:
1) He has no experience governing. As we saw in the previous administration, that can make a big difference.
2) He’s not crazy, so I doubt if he’d be interested.
And along with what Mike said, above, even tho Ukraine was ready for a Jewish president, is the USA? He does have a lot going for him, but a lot of baggage as well, with his lengthy past.
If Russia can accuse the Jewish Ukrainian president of being a Nazi, maybe Stewart can pick up some support here in America from the far right.
Being able to convince people to vote for you does not make you a leader.
I am a JS fan, and think he should run for office at a lower level, first.
I'd like to see Al Franken run. This country needs a reset.
Disinter George Carlin. Wish he hadn’t gone and died. His corpse would be a better president than some of these assholes.
I agree with Mc, really. Al Franken's da bomb!
I suspect any danger to Stewart from culling old video clips and from anachronistic, cherry-picked denunciations, will come not from conservatives but from the humorless, puritanical, low-rent neo-Maoists to his left.
It would indeed be interesting to hear the great wordsmith and iconoclast George Carlin—or Lenny Bruce, or Christopher Hitchens—react to the nots and bolts of workplace diversity and inclusion training, to related speech and conduct codes, to microaggressions and safe spaces, and to people like Admiral Rachel Levine and swimmer Lia Thomas winning “Woman of the Year” and bothering women hanging their junk out in the sporting locker room, respectively, while observers in turn are suspended from media platforms for spreading “hate”—translation, for simply pointing out these Orwellian gymnastics.
Great idea!! Smart, depth of knowledge, out think and out talk his opponent. Does not talk down and keeps the irony and humor in his retorts. A very positive guy. Could take on the pinchmouths …left and right.
Great idea!! Smart, depth of knowledge, out think and out talk his opponent. Does not talk down and keeps the irony and humor in his retorts. A very positive guy. Could take on the pinchmouths …left and right.
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