Senator Winfrey: the politics of celebrity and identity
When governors have been called on to appoint senators in the past, they’ve tended to stick with party regulars and other established politicians.
But I suppose, after the serious consideration given to neophyte Caroline Kennedy to replace Hillary Clinton, it should come as no surprise that Governor Blagojevitch of Illinois thought about appointing TV superstar Oprah Winfrey to fill Barack Obama’s senatorial shoes—and that Oprah thought herself qualified to have accepted the offer, although she wasn’t really all that interested. She’s too busy doing other things.
Well, Oprah is indeed a busy gal. She’s got a lot of clout, and a vast number of projects over which she exercises a great deal of control. So I can hardly blame her for not being eager to take on the somewhat boring career of Senator. It involves a lot of down time, and one person usually can’t accomplish a whole lot there (actually, a hundred people often can’t accomplish a whole lot, either—but that’s another story).
The whole question got me wondering just who is best qualified to be appointed senator.
When a person runs for election to the Senate, the public uses its judgment to make that decision. Often (as with Barack Obama), the winner has at least some experience at the state legislative level.
But not always. For example, Hillary Clinton was judged qualified by the voters of New York. But she hardly lacked political experience; although she had never run for office before, she certainly had watched the sausage of government being made (as it were).
War heroes are the type of celebrities that have often entered politics successfully. But in recent years non-military celebrities, usually in the entertainment field, have sometimes been elected governors—witness Arnold Schwarzenegger of California (who also married into a celebrity political family), and wrestler Jesse Ventura of Minnesota. And then of course there’s the most successful celebrity of all, actor Ronald Reagan, also of California.
Minnesota has the additional distinction (a dubious one, IMHO) of having just (probably) elected a celebrity senator in Al Franken. He’s not the first, though; consider former basketball player (and Rhodes Scholar—always mentioned in nearly the same breath) Bill Bradley, who served for nearly twenty years as New Jersey’s senator. As for celebrity members of Congress, Sonny Bono comes to mind. But he worked his way up in time-honored fashion in local politics—even if his venue was celebrity-town Palm Springs.
But at least all these people slugged it out in the arena of open elections, and won. Now we’re talking about bypassing that process and relying entirely on celebrity and identity—including racial identity in the case of Winfrey and the non-celebrity pol who was actually appointed instead of her, Roland Burris. Both are a racial match for the outgoing Obama.
The same pattern is true in the gender arena for Hillary’s replacement. Caroline Kennedy is a woman, although not a politican. Non-celebrity politician Kirsten Gillibrand, the actual appointee, also matches in gender, although her political orientation is less liberal than Hillary’s or Kennedy’s. Perhaps actual political policy is considered less important than identity these days.
Perhaps actual political policy is considered less important than identity these days
Also, perhaps accomplishment is considered less important than identity.
I don’t know that appointing Oprah over an accomplished politician would be a good thing. However, if Oprah wanted to run for Senate, I would consider her to be adequately qualified:
She has a record of accomplishment and achievement highlighted by pulling herself up completely on her own – w/o benefactors. Her career indicates she understands how to work with people and how to get things done. She is thoughtful, reasonable, and virtuous. That’s someone I would consider voting for.
Of course, I would likely not vote for Oprah b/c her politics and mine are so different. Also, it would concern me that she might be lacking knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, and of U.S. Government in general, and of U.S. History (and of world history, for that matter). Last, Oprah’s flirtations with New Age gurus and remedies and philosophies concerns me. I consider it shallow.
Still, were I more of a center left political person, I would give Oprah strong consideration for my vote.
Our whole system of government is just becoming a joke. Too bad it’s not a funny
Gender and race are all that matter. White males will soon be as unwelcome in the political world as their dead counterparts are in the world of culture and history.
Hey you didn’t mention Clint Eastwood, mayor of Carmel, CA, my favorite celebrity politician.
Take note of what it basically is. People’s shallow perception that competence and brilliance can only come in articulate presenters who are photogenic ribbon cutters.
Hubert Humphrey and Howell Heflin wouldn’t have a snowballs chance in hell during this “climate change”.
“Ideocracy” in action.
In the movie of the same name, the president was actually a *professional wrestler* – obviously not chosen for his intellect.
While it was clearly a slam against the redneck segment of the population (guns, big trucks, sports, etc.), the reality is that the left wing self proclaimed *intelligent* people are the ones turning a hollywood comedy into reality.
We are well down that path now, with a comedian now entering the senate (well, one of a hundred actually!), an actor running Kalifornia into bankruptcy, and a smooth talking *social worker* now sitting in the single most powerful seat in government.
The last achieving this dubious accomplishment by virtue of having come off as a smoother communicator – even though he didn’t ever really say a damn thing that took, ya know, a concrete position on a subject during the election cycle.
But hey, he was popular so why not make him president?!?
Toss in the corruption of the Franks and Dodds, a healthy sprinkling of corrupt Illinois governors and New England politicians, and it would be laughable as a comedy – except this is reality.
Like I said, “Ideocracy” in action.
We’re getting the government that the useful idiots deserve – only we don’t have the choice of opting out for 4 years until we can get someone else in there.
I’m convinced at this point that they are going to do their best to drag us down with them, all the while proclaiming that it’s good for us.
Scottie i saw that movie. I crack up every time i think of “House of Representin” . LOL
SteveH,
As sad as it is to suggest, perhaps our schools could do a service to the nation and provide the movie as material for classroom debate – possibly exposing to even the youngest unmolded minds just how silly things are getting….
Jus representin da alternative view, ya know….
Steve H, Scottie, the “Guitar Army” is also a concept whose time has come!
Around our house we sometimes quote the line from “Ideocracy” “I like money – you like money too? I’m freaking out!”
Scottie, in fairness to Arnold, he’s had a tough row to hoe. He was elected to try to stave off the financial disaster California is now facing (thanks Gray!), but the Democrat-controlled legislature (thanks gerrymandering!) has dug in its heels and resisted every effort to deal with the problem.
It’s hard to see what else he could have done than he has done. His freedom of action is severely limited by the liberal population centers in SF and LA, and liberal newspapers (there’s another kind?) flayed him when he tried to twist the legislature’s arm.
Liberals seem not to realize we’re broke, and have been for some time. Just in November voters approved contruction of a totally unnecessary high-speed rail link between LA and SF for a paltry $10 billion that we don’t have, and that few will ever use (assuming it gets built). Who’s going to spend six hours on a roundtrip that takes two by air?
Neo, please check me on this: Didn’t Plato start his career as a wrestler? And wasn’t even the name “Plato” a reference to his broad shoulders?
But then, he wasn’t promoted by Vince McMahon.
Heres one place to watch “Idiocracy”
http://www.watch-movies.net/movies/idiocracy/
Its hilarious and makes one ponder society’s general decline.
Occam,
I’d be far more lenient in my appraisal of the ahnuld if he had not turned out to be such – shudder the thought – a RINO.
At least that’s my opinion of him – which are like certain body orifices of one’s choice in that everyone has one.
I kind of favored his republican opponent in the whole recall thing that ended up with Arnold instead in the governor’s mansion.
Neo,
It should be somebody with a degree in economics like Ronald Reagan. 🙂
Of course that is a field most politicians don’t understand.
I’m thinking somebody who has RUN a business would be highly attractive to me over a lawyer, or lifelong politician.
I’d recruit Carly Fiona without even knowing her politics though I have listened to her business and economics wisdom when she’s been interviewed on FoxNews. She sounds like she understands business and economics more than every Democrat and most Republican politicians….
This whole business of trying to figure out “who’s qualified” to be a senator, representative, or president is one that is answered by the US Constitution. We could do a lot worse (and already have) by electing career politicians to office instead of ordinary people. Now obviously, Oprah is not an ordinary person. But I would be willing to bet we’d get a lot better results out of the Congress if we simply picked ordinary people who were willing to do the job instead of constantly favoring lawyers and career politicians. Note that I said willingly; I’m not advocating a lottery based system like jury duty. You have to want to do the job, but the plain honesty of the ordinary man would probably do a much better job at cleaning out the institutional mess that has become Washington DC than any lawyer or career politician.
It’s a cliche, though nevertheless true, that celebrities are America’s ‘Royalty’.
But once celebrities whose only qualification for office is their public persona become acceptable, as they clearly have with the ‘election’ of Al Franken, then knowingly or not, Americans are choosing to replace a representative republic with a representative aristocracy.
America’s two ‘royal’ families, the Bush’s and Kennedy’s, may be the harbinger of things to come.
I think it was Buckley or maybe Reagan who suggested we’d get a better legislature by picking 500 random names out of American phone books.
Scottie, fair enough. I haven’t really studied the Arnold situation, but have some reflexive sympathy for anyone who has to deal with Bay Area types on a routine basis – having done so myself for some years.
It could be argued that the November election made the presidency an entry level job for a media-driven candidate with marginal qualifications. Look for more celebrity candidacies in the future. There have been news reports that actor Val Kilmer is interested in seeking the New Mexico governorship. He was good in the “The Doors,” so maybe that’s all it takes!
I’d be less concerned about ordinary citizens attaining high office for a few years and returning to the great masses than I’ll ever be about celebrities doing the same.
Ordinary citizens, after all, have to live in the real world and the laws that come down from the ivory towers are enforced upon them – so they know of what they are dealing with when they choose to enact laws themselves in such positions, especially if they know they are going to return to those same masses upon whom they are placing these laws upon.
Celebrities seem so far out of touch with the common man that their view of such an individual strikes me as more stereotype than a result of personal interaction.
I’m not suggesting all celebrites are that way, but I think a good argument could be made that a lot of them are.
Consider, for instance, a celebrity who uses massive amounts of weapons in their movies to blow away “bad guys” left and right without remorse and without any sense of reality in the movie itself, yet that same celebrity then publicly declares they “don’t like guns” while at the same time hiding behind a bodyguard who carries – get this – a gun for protecting their own precious hides.
Strikes me as just a wee bit hypocritical.
In the case of exchanging lifelong politicians for celebrities, I’d say it seems to be a case of replacing the arrogant with the ignorant.
You are absolutely right, and this has been driving me crazy.
It’s not only celebrities; it’s also the spouses and offspring of politicians. America is most certainly evolving an hereditary aristocracy. It is happening at all levels of government, from the national to the local.
Occam,
The knee jerk reaction is understandable – but keep in mind he even married into the extended Kennedy family, and his policies are virtually indistinguishable on a lot of subjects from a “liberal”. Research especially the contest when he first took office.
The initial recall was spearheaded by others, and Ahnuld stepped in at the last minute and stole the thunder.
The party leadership as well as rank and file apparently – and this is admittedly as viewed from a distance – decided that celebrity outranked political theory and skewed the contest his way.
Well, they got the seat – but he’s not really governed as a “conservative” I don’t think.
But again, opinions are like…well, body orifices. Everyone has one…
McClintock, Scottie. He was far more knowledgeable. But, like many intelligent hard working, good people, he was ‘unelectable’ because of the rabid, scorched earth left’s tactics.
Those same tactics first hobbled Arnold, who expected to be treated with respect, and expected the legislators to be reasonable, and have now permanently crippled him.
Part of our problem is the term limits law we passed – it served its purpose, which was to remove Willie Brown from his entrenched position of power many years ago – but now, it gives us a continual crop of inexperienced short-timers, who spend more time plotting their position on a musical chairs arrangement that lets them serve in both branches before being permanently termed out, and more time plotting to block Republican budget proposals than in actually serving their constituents. Staffers and lobbyists have the institutional knowledge that used to run with the legislators, they are running the show.
Arnold has been unable to secure the needed budget cuts, the ‘raise taxes – let the rich pay more’ mentality rules the day. Businesses leave the state because of the excessive red tape, regulations and taxes, and that drives revenues down further. Then a crisis like this one hits, and a state that should be flush with money (remember they have also absconded withe the county’s property tax revenues) is instead in very serious trouble, preparing to issue IOUs instead of tax refunds.
I wish we had elected McClintock. Maybe he could have taken a harder line than Arnold, because he wasn’t so concerned with everyone liking him.
Just my very frustrated read of the situation.
Let’s not forget that Reagan paid his dues for 10 years or so as president of the Screen Actors Guild before he ever ran for public office. Then he served two terms as governor of California. He had plenty of executive experience by the time he was elected president. Far more so than the present occupant of the White House. I voted for him (twice) without ever watching any of his movies. To this day, I still haven’t. I knew him as the conservative California governor, not the actor.
Plato was a fist fighter and a soldier. The nickname “Plato” he acquired in the ranks of Athen citizen army, where he was honored for valor in several battles, and, yes, for his wide breastplate: he had a formidable build.
It was Buckley. And it was the first 500 names in the phone book.
Politicians today remind me of celebrity spokespersons. The bail out plan that originally came from Bush was shot down. Wasn’t it only a few pages? The one that passed about a week later was what, 850 pages? And it is weighed with 150 billion in pork. Pork that otherwise would have been tied up for years trying to get through.
Did any of those who voted for it, or even against it, actually read and comprehend those 850 + pages in a week? It is beyond me how anyone can believe those who got us into this mess have the ability to get us out of it. It’s a cinch those 850 + pages weren’t written in a week. They’ve been around a while.
I don’t see how we fix anything as long as people judge a politician by how much pork he brings home from Washington. Maybe some form of graduated federal refund to constituents of a state based on their leaders ability to obstain from using federal dollars.
Hey Rose, Occam,
Just saw this headline this morning after posting the above comments last night, so it’s interesting timing. As of 7:47 AM this morning it was posted 2 Hrs 41 mins ago:
“Calif. governor wants to tax golf, auto repairs”
…..
“In California, Schwarzenegger wants to help close a nearly $42 billion budget deficit by taxing rounds of golf, auto repairs, veterinary care, amusement park and sporting event admissions and appliance and furniture repairs.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090127/ap_on_re_us/meltdown_service_taxes
The article continues with more of the same, but the very idea of raising taxes during a recession goes completely against *conservative* ideas of how to generate wealth and thereby raise revenues.
Reagan came into office in 1981 facing a recession, and managed to get tax cuts into place even over the wishes of a democrat Congress.
It took a year or two for those cuts to be fully implemented, but after they were fully implemented there was a huge expansion of national wealth along with commensurate increases in tax revenue without having to raise taxes.
Of course the democrat Congress in turn raised spending to a level higher than the increased revenues, but what else is new?
At any rate, that was on a national level of course, but then again Kalifornia is larger than many nations whether one looks at geographic size, population, or GDP.
Ahnuld is basically playing by the democrat playbook on how to handle budget shortfalls – as well as many other subjects, and I don’t see it ending well.
And no, I’m not crowing. Our own new democrat governor in NC is referencing back to a prior democrat governor – who was in office as the Great Depression rolled in.
Overall it just doesn’t encourage a lot of confidence that this long ago governor is her guidepost on the current economy, ya know what I mean?
sergey,
The concept of a warrior/philosopher is evident throughout history. Look at the samurai, for instance, and the fact they were expected to be skilled in war as well as art as both activities required self control and the conscious development of skill.
A warrior who thinks is far more dangerous than one who is simply physically strong.
The reference to Ideocracy above – at least in the comments I made – was referring to the “president” at the beginning of the movie who was apparently elected simply by virtue of his popularity as a *professional wrestler*.
I don’t believe any of the current crop of new congress critters fit the mold of a warrior/philosopher.
waltj,
I hear ya. I’ve never seen a Reagan movie either.
I know hollywood is this massive money machine now, but I doubt it was always the case. During the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, was it the economic engine it is now, or was it still developing? I honestly don’t know.
If it was still developing as an economic engine while Reagan was an actor, an argument could be made that he was just another cog in a certain business model that was seen as no better or worse for the state of Kalifornia than any other business.
If that were the case, then Reagan’s experiences as an actor would be far different than what current actor’s experience as celebrities – and it would place him in far greater contact with “normal” people during this time in his life.
Reagan also came into politics with a well defined sense of his own political philosophy.
Too many of the hierarchy of the republican party seem to be mouthing the words without any real conviction, using the cover of the republican party and it’s supposed “conservatism” simply as a means to greater personal advancement.
Again, just an opinion….
Reagan came of age in a film industry that was much different than the one of today. Back then, the major studios essentially “owned” the talent, and paychecks for actors, even major stars, were much lower relative to the rest of society. They still did very well, thank you, but not like now. The studios also enforced some discipline on the actors, so you didn’t get as many blowhards like Sean Penn and George Clooney showing off their ignorance for the public. If you want a good blog on the entertainment industry, check this one out:
http://dknowsall.blogspot.com/
I basically avoid most things connected with celebrities and movies, and have for the last 30+ years or so. I could never get past the idiotic politics of a lot of those people, so why should I make them richer? I have other ways of getting my entertainment.
George Murphy predated Ronald Reagan though did not get as far as he did. They both cut their political teeth on the vicious politics of Hollywood so were not elected just because they were celebrities.
Are you saying that Kirsten Gillibrand is the wrong choice and was picked solely because she was a woman? That is a genuine question as, over on this side of the Pond, I had not heard of her before. Possibly my fault.
Scottie, good points. I respect your opinion, which is more informed on Arnold than my own. I was just willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in light of the opposition he faces in the legislature.
Sigh. California used to be a great state, before the liberal infestation set in…
Occam,
LOL…no problem – I’m just glad I don’t have to deal with it as closely as you do apparently. I swear I would become certifiable inside of 6 weeks!
I only know about Ahnuld because certain things caught my attention when he was initially elected. I didn’t have a good feeling about him then, and unfortunately that feeling has been borne out.
Is it too late to just give all citizens who want to stay in the US a few months to get their affairs in order and leave – then give the entire state back to Mexico?
Of course there would have to be additional conditions.
Along with the state they also have to agree to keep Rosie and Penn and Baldwin and…well, you get the idea. Since the US is so evil we should give them a chance to see what it’s like living outside of the US.
Thanks Neo. I just stuck an icepick in my head after reading the title of this posting.
Again, thanks.
Not to worry. I live in the next state down from New York and I’d never heard of her either.