Among the outtakes we’re left to ponder after the presidential election is this one: candidate appearances on late-night talk shows reached a new high.
For the record, there were a total of 110 candidate-appearances on the late-night comedy shows, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs. Accounting for nearly three quarters of such on-set appearances were “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, the “Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Colbert Report” with Stephen Colbert. In contrast, there were 25 such appearances in 2004 (an election year with an incumbent).
“Candidates have figured out that you can reach voters through entertainment venues even better than news,” explained Robert Lichter, a George Mason University professor and head of the CMPA.
Candidates also figured out that such vehicles are free and command large audiences. And, yes, they are hardly mettle-testing crucibles. That’s why, as Sarah Palin eventually discovered, participating in a Saturday Night Live self-parody was still much better than submitting to a Charlie Gibson or a Katie Couric interview.
Actually, it had already been figured out by the John F. Kennedy campaign nearly a half century ago.
That’s when presidential aspirant Sen. Kennedy went on the “Tonight Show” with Jack Paar.
The Kennedy people were ahead of their time. Their candidate would be positioned in front of a large, non-traditional audience, and the host would be deferential. This wasn’t the political-junkie gauntlet of a “Meet The Press” or “Face The Nation.” And the witty and winsome JFK, of course, was right out of central casting for this relatively new medium. A slice of the electorate would see a side of Kennedy that would later resonate in press conferences.
Eventually, we would see other candidates begin to use TV to complement their paid ads, whistle-stop appearances and nightly network news clips. From Richard “Sock It To Me” Nixon dropping in on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in 1968 to Bill Clinton practicing safe sax on “The Arsenio Hall Show” in 1992.
Now, we are reminded, such appearances are routine. Such that they’ve become almost symbiotic.
The candidates get exposure – and for the particularly personable and/or glib, they can conceivably energize a campaign the way no mere policy paper can. They also can lead to life after an also-ran candidacy. Mike Huckabee now has his own talk show on the Fox News Channel, and no one would be surprised to see Sarah Palin follow suit.
As for the shows themselves, they were able to tap into an endless campaign that seemed increasingly like the ultimate reality show. Ratings’ hikes resulted.
Only one major problem.
When appearances with late-night comics become de rigueur, they lose their original allure. Which was, lest we forget, seeing a candidate out of his handler-controlled comfort zone exchanging quips with a non-political insider. Showing some personality, a sense of humor, some heretofore unseen trait. Humanizing himself.
Now, it’s more like: Conan O’Brien, check; Bill O’Reilly, check; David Letterman, check; Wolf Blitzer, check; Jon Stewart, check; Brian Williams, check; Stephen Colbert, check; David Gregory, check; and Oprah, Tyra and Ellen, triple-check.
The campaigns ask: What are their demographics and ratings? Who else is on? What’s the order? Can we get a good book plug in? What’s our agenda beyond good-natured, witty banter and not looking like we think we are somebody special just because we’re running for the pre-eminent position in the world? Can we dumb it down without looking dumb? Do we have appropriate ad libs?
Call it routine. But also call it trivializing and demeaning. Remember “boxers or briefs?”
The American presidency is the most important, the most powerful job on the globe. The U.S. is economically imperiled and geo-politically adrift. It’s also in a war with zero-sum, civilizational implications.
The time has never been worse for presidential candidates to regularly and routinely schedule chit-chat fests with comedic talk-show hosts looking for a ratings’ spike. Can you imagine FDR and Wendell Wilkie barnstorming with Fred Allen and Jack Benny in 1940 – with the U.S. on the cusp of war, in the thrall of isolationists, and in the final throes of the Depression?
Why — if a contemporary presidential candidate is looking for a big, freebie audience and lots of softball questions — isn’t Larry King enough?