Issues eclipsed by star power
2008-09-18 10:35
Los Angeles - Celebrity is playing
an unprecedented role in the US presidential election,
whether it's Barack Obama taking heat for a $28 500-per-plate
dinner in Hollywood, John McCain grappling with the women of
The View or Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin.
Republican candidate John McCain lashed out at Democrat
Barack Obama's nine million dollar Beverly Hills fundraisers on Tuesday as an example that Obama was out of touch with common voters, but McCain, too, has his own Hollywood coterie.
Political analysts and culture watchers say the role of
celebrity in politics has gone well beyond mere endorsements,
which have long had only a limited impact.
This year, politicians are appearing on daytime and late
night chat shows to reach a broader group of voters than they
would via political programmes, and web search services report
people looking for qualities in candidates that have more to do
with their lifestyles than their campaign platforms.
"The power of celebrity is playing a greater role, not in
celebrities (endorsing) the candidates. It's the celebrity
aspect of the candidates themselves," said Robert Thompson, a
professor of media and pop culture at Syracuse University.
A fractured media landscape with countless TV channels
appealing to niche audiences has forced the candidates to leave
a politician's comfort zone and appear on talk shows and comedy
programmes, experts said.
Obama's early appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show
helped vault him to early prominence, although since he has
been a declared candidate he has not been on her programme.
Last week, he put in an appearance on the Late Show with
David Letterman and tried to clarify his "lipstick on a pig"
remark that raised the ire of his Republican rivals.
Personal politics
McCain also took to the celebrity talk show circuit last
week on The View, where he was grilled about topics such as the consistency of his character by the female hosts including Barbara Walters, actress Whoopi Goldberg and others.
"You don't get your message across just by appearing on
Meet the Press anymore," said Los Angeles-based political
analyst Allan Hoffenblum, referring to the long-running news
show.
Producer David Zucker, whose conservative political spoof
An American Carol opens in movie theatres next month, said such appearances help make candidates' seem more like average Americans.
"These candidates do reach out to get into popular culture,
and if nothing else show how much of a regular guy they are,"
Zucker said.
Even on the web, voters are looking at the personal lives
of the candidates with the kind of eye for minutiae typically
reserved for stars, said Bill Tancer, of internet tracking
company Hitwise.
Last month, the top 10 web search terms for Obama and
McCain included requests for information about family members,
Obama's height and for images from Republican vice presidential
candidate Sarah Palin's days as a beauty queen contestant.
Those types of searches outnumber campaign issues such as
the economy, according to Hitwise. "Right now it looks like
people are focused on the image of the candidates," he said.
- Reuters