By: Ali K.
Popularity and endorsement from those with popularity: two key factors that many candidates for races of all sorts take advantage of. However, when does it become too much of a popularity contest for certain candidates, and does this popularity contest become more important to the candidates than trying to win over voters by addressing the important issues? Although Obama has addressed his viewpoints and concerns on some current issues in America during his 2012 campaign thus far, it may be argued that he relies a little too much on his endorsement from celebrities.
CNN reports, “President Obama is bringing a heavy dose of star power with him on his final day on the campaign trail. The campaign announced Thursday that musician Bruce Springsteen will perform at all three of the president's stops on Monday – Madison, Wisconsin; Columbus, Ohio; and Des Moines, Iowa. In addition, rapper Jay-Z will perform at the Columbus, Ohio stop.” It is one thing for a well-respected, educated, politician or businessperson to travel with a candidate for support and public endorsement—in fact, that should be no issue at all—but I find it very unnecessary to have popular vocalists or other celebrities travel with a candidate only to target those celebrities’ fans. This is certainly not the case for all celebrities, but it may be said that there are many who never went to college and some who never even finished high school. They happened to take a chance and were lucky enough to reach success and fame in the entertainment industry. I personally do not think this should entitle them to go out of their way to formally endorse Obama to their fans, being many of them weren’t even fully educated. Some celebrities, rappers in particular, seem to be endorsing Obama for all the wrong reasons such as his race and how “cool” he is.
http://youtu.be/CXJ5qAfhyHk
Wiz Khalifa is asked about his thoughts on President Obama in the video above, and it’s quite obvious that he has no clue what specifically the President has done. Now I have nothing against Wiz Khalifa, but I don’t think he should be pushing his fans in the direction of Obama if he doesn’t even have anything to back his views up with. It makes me quite nervous that a portion of the undereducated percentage of people in our society look towards their celebrity idols for political advice, especially since many of these celebrities have no clue what they’re talking about.
Will Ferrell is even trying to get his fans to vote for Obama. CNN reports, “Comedian Will Ferrell says he'll pretty much do anything if you go out and vote for President Barack Obama Tuesday, including cooking, eating trash and even giving you a tattoo. ‘If you agree to vote in this year's election, I will personally give you a tattoo," Ferrell said in a video released by the Obama campaign's YouTube channel Saturday. "Fair warning, I do not know how to draw.’”
http://youtu.be/6rGaE5je7vE
As of Sunday morning, this video already had over 180,000 views. Sure, it’s quite comedic, and with all the seriousness of politics right now, people want a good laugh. But does he bring up any issues of importance during the video? No. All the video emits is comedy.
With the Presidential race being the most important election within our great country, it should be expected that the main goal of each candidate is to educate and persuade the public with the issues at hand and how they will tackle those issues if elected. However, it seems as if the Obama campaign would much rather focus on the popularity aspect of the race by using celebrities for endorsement—so that those less educated may cast their vote in the President’s direction—even if it means people are voting Obama for all the wrong reasons.
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I agree with what you're saying. It also reminds me of the debates between Nixon and JFK in the 60's. Nixon wasn't as good looking and calm as JFK, and some experts have said that these debates helped JFK win the presidential election. While times have changed a bit, it still follows the same trail. Now instead of judging by look, they're judging by popularity, as you said. The more endorsements you have the better off you are. It's not right and it could have skewed enough of the countries undecided voters that it might've changed the results of the election. Obama won just 3 million more votes than Romney, so it's possible that these celebrities traveling with Obama could've helped him win. And I do not believe they should either. It's turning into a popularity contest.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the popular person always has the advantages. The candidates are very focused on winning and getting the popular vote than actually wanting to make a difference. I feel like the two candidates addressed important aspects the other party did negatively to make themselves look like they would represent America better. If a Celebrity is voting for a certain President and it gets around, the fans of the Celebrity will most likely vote for that same President because they admire that Celebrity and want to have the same interests as them, which is completely unfair. I don’t think that the candidates should get help from Celebrities because it’s cheating and they’re not playing the game fairly. It makes me mad that Wiz was saying how Barack Obama should win President when you mentioned that he has no clue what the President has even done. If Wiz should speak, he should get all his information gathered together then make his opinion and not drag his fans along with him.
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