To some Americans he is the most trusted man in the US since the iconic news anchor, Walter Cronkite, told the country that the Vietnam war was a lost cause.
Yet Jon Stewart, the presenter of the satirical Daily Show who calls the president “dude” to his face and gets away with it, was to put that credibility on the line with his “rally to restore sanity” in Washington yesterday.
The comedian, who was recently voted the most influential man in the US by a men’s magazine, has promised nothing more than “fun” for the tens of thousands he hopes to draw to the National Mall in Washington. The fun will include singers such as Sheryl Crow and readings by well-known actors.
However, the timing — days before the midterm elections that promise a conservative resurgence — and Stewart’s overtly liberal views have some on the left hoping that he can magically inject their cause with the enthusiasm that has been severely lacking in the campaign.
Others are taking the rally at face value and planning to turn up with banners proclaiming themselves part of the reasonable majority, liberal or conservative, against the particular brand of insanity that has swept the US since US -President Barack Obama entered the White House.
EXTREMISTS
The president’s more extreme, but very vocal, critics portray him as a communist for promoting universal access to healthcare or Hitler for allegedly planning to impose what Sarah Palin called “death panels” on hospitals. Movements have been built around claims that the president was born in Kenya or is a secret Muslim.
Then there is the Daily Show’s battle with Glenn Beck and Fox News and their ceaseless peddling of conspiracy theories involving Obama and the Democrats. It was Beck’s own right-wing “rally to restore honor” in August that prompted Stewart’s call to fill the mall today.
Some Democrats hope the rally will help fire up the supporters who turned out in large numbers to vote for Obama two years ago, but who now appear disillusioned.
Stewart says he is merely seeking to reverse the extreme polarization of politics.
Some of his supporters are planning to turn out with banners proclaiming: “Stop it. You are scaring the kids!!” “Be Civil America” and “Team Sanity: I respectfully disagree with just about everything you said.”
However, the Daily Show presenter, a self-described socialist, is in an unusual position that reflects not only the rapid decline in confidence in traditional sources of news, but the inexorable rise of the influence of celebrity in politics, seen when his protege, Stephen Colbert, testified in character as a parody of a rightwing Fox News presenter to Congress last month.
Colbert will be at the rally today, leading his satirical “March to Keep Fear Alive.”
Where the US once looked to Cronkite, it now looks to Stewart precisely because he is not in the traditional news business. Many watch his show not only for a take on the news, but for news coverage itself. The Daily Show has twice won the Peabody award for coverage of presidential elections.
CREDIBILITY?
Stewart’s credibility is such that the president chose his show this week for his principal interview ahead of the mid-term elections. It was praised by both Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, and former US president George W. Bush’s former strategist, Karl Rove.
That has some of his fans worried that Stewart is now, like the reporters he derides, too close to the center of power. They fear his credibility might be eroding, although a similar concern was raised that the Daily Show might lose its bite when Obama was elected and Stewart no longer had such a juicy target in George W. Bush.
To others, Stewart contributed to the cynicism with the tone of his daily exposure of the failings, lies and hypocrisies of US politicians that can sound like the right’s call to fix “broken Washington.”
NO LAUGHING MATTER?
Critics have also emerged from the Washington establishment to question Stewart’s audacity in daring to hold the rally at all. Anne Applebaum wrote a critical article in the Washington Post: “Jon Stewart’s march is no laughing matter.”
Her colleague Paul Farhi asked: “Just who does Jon Stewart think he is?”
Yet these are precisely the people who draw Stewart’s anger. He has said his show is only necessary because journalists have abandoned their responsibilities through a mix of indifference and a lack of gumption that leaves viewers and readers with no real idea of what is going on.
Some US journalists implicitly admit the charge. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams said Stewart “has chronicled the death of shame in politics and journalism.”
However, the real question is whether Stewart is going to make any difference to Tuesday’s vote. Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor, thinks not.
“It may cause a few young people to get out to vote, but I don’t think it’s going to cause millions of people to suddenly show up at the polls,” he said.
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