UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN LIVING IN A cave, you know that Oprah Winfrey campaigned for Barack Obama last week. Because of her, tens of thousands of people heard the candidate speak. This whole celebrity endorsement thing got me thinking. I don’t believe many people are going to vote for somebody just because someone who is on television or in the movies says they should. But, as with Oprah, voters may come to see the celebrity, but they also end up hearing the candidate. Obviously, this can backfire if they don’t like what they hear.
Many people resent celebrity endorsers and have the attitude, “Just because they’re famous doesn’t mean they know anything about politics.” So, there is considerable debate about whether celebrities actually help. However, I think I have a surefire way for celebrity endorsements to help get a candidate elected.
Because of the season, the competition for celebrities reminds me of the competition among neighbors for the most ostentatious Christmas and other holiday decorations. When it was announced that Oprah was supporting Obama, Hillary Clinton’s people quickly announced that Barbra Streisand was supporting her. It’s just like that neighbor of yours puts up a hundred lights and a 10-foot Santa Claus in front of his house, and then another neighbor quickly decorates his house with 200 lights and an even bigger Santa. Now that wrestler Ric Flair (a.k.a. “The Nature Boy") is supporting Mike Huckabee, does that mean there will be a scramble to get the endorsement of “Undertaker” or “Rey Mysterio?”
Nobody knows which celebrities will be helpful to them. So we have Rudy Giuliani endorsed by Robert Duvall, Sean Penn rooting for Dennis Kucinich, and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling campaigning for John McCain. Martin Sheen, who played the president on television, endorses Bill Richardson, and acclaimed actor Harry Belafonte, who also gained fame singing “The Banana Boat Song,” is for John Edwards. Sometime actor Fred Thompson is being endorsed by sometime actor Fred Thompson.
In a way, candidates even try to get certain dead people to endorse them. All of the Republican candidates have evoked Ronald Reagan’s name, and of course, many of those running quote Abraham Lincoln or the Founding Fathers. I wouldn’t be surprised if digital technology were used to put a candidate in a television commercial with somebody from the past. It would be like those macabre commercials that put famous dead actors in a modern home using some new appliance. I’m sure there’s a way that we could end up seeing and hearing, “This is Alexander Hamilton for Ron Paul.”
But again, nobody seems to know how much an endorsement really helps a candidate. So I have a way to take all of the doubt out of the celebrity endorsement sweepstakes. Instead of candidates and political parties seeking endorsements of famous people, I think they should secretly get inappropriately famous people to represent their opponents. It would work like this: Let’s say Mike Huckabee ends up being the Republican nominee. The next day, Madonna comes out for him. The day after that, people like Democrat activist/actor Tim Robbins endorses Huckabee. If they really want to play hardball, the Democrats can always try to get atheist Dr. Michael Newdow to say he’s for the former minister Huckabee. Suddenly, the nominee’s base will start asking themselves if Huckabee really represents their point of view.
Similarly, think what an endorsement from jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs would do to Mitt Romney’s campaign. I believe we could say “bye-bye to Biden” if Rush Limbaugh came out for him. And could Rudy Giuliani get elected if disgraced athlete Michael Vick endorsed him?
If Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, the Republicans could get John C. Sigler, the president of the NRA, to say wonderful things about Obama while Trent Lott applauds the gun guy’s speech. It would be interesting to watch anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly campaign for Hillary Clinton. And if the Republicans really want to destroy John Edwards’ campaign, the person they should get to endorse him is George W. Bush.
Maybe I shouldn’t be suggesting all this, because some political operatives might be tempted to take my suggestion seriously. Actually, considering how dirty politics always becomes, I’m surprised that they haven’t already used this technique. Wait a minute. How do we know that they haven’t? I mean, will we ever know the true political philosophy of Ric “The Nature Boy” Flair?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 15, 2007. Read the original PDF.