As you may know, the satirist Steven Colbert (in character as the beloved pundit) recently announced his candidacy for the presidency. Soon afterward, a Facebook group entitled “1,000,000 Strong For Steven T Colbert” sprang up. In less than two weeks the group reached its goal of 1 million members. A similar group supporting Barack Obama is close to 400,000 members and a group against Hillary Clinton is nearing half a million. Both of these groups have existed for the better part of a year and are nowhere close to reaching their goals, and numbers for groups of other major candidates can only be described as sickly. Despite the humor Colbert brings to the campaign trail, I think there is a larger issue that is illuminated by his swelling of support.
We are considered one of the most politically apathetic generations of all time. The question is begging to be asked: Are we failing our political process, or is the political process failing us? The eight or so major party candidates, and the process itself, are so amazingly unappealing that college students are turning to a comedian for political leadership. People have always sought a genuine leader, someone who steps forward from a sense of duty and not a desire for power. With Colbert we at least get the sense he sincerely pretends to care about issues, and pretending to care is more than what you will get with any of the manufactured candidates.
Matthew Roberts
CAS ’09