A few days ago, I was lucky enough to see The Colbert Report. I’m a long time fan of Colbert, Stewart, and their whole apparatus, but my schedule doesn’t often allow me to watch it these days. So it was a good thing that my wife was out at a concert and I was up late waiting for her, because it was not only one of the funniest episodes ever, but also one of the most illuminating.
The show had very little of Colbert monologuing; it was almost entirely high profile guests. Both Democratic presidential candidates, as well as their former third place rival, made surprise appearances. The show began with Colbert’s video screen failing. Hillary Clinton showed up and fixed it for him. She then fixed Colbert’s make-up, and said that if anything else went wrong, he should call her anytime, even 3 A.M. John Edwards later got to do a whole monologue himself. He got the funniest lines of the night ("I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but my father worked in a mill..."), but he was also the most issue-oriented of the three, emphasizing the need for both candidates to work towards ending poverty and ensuring universal healthcare. Finally, Obama showed up by satellite, deriding ABC’s shameful debate and the manufactured political distractions it featured, and placing distractions "On Notice" (a running gag for Colbert).
What I found most interesting is how well these segments captured the essence of the campaigns. Presumably all three had writers to help them with jokes, but it’s also safe to assume that they had approval of their material, so the content says a lot about what the three think about the state of the race. Edwards’s defunct campaign was always the most issue-oriented of the three Democrats, emphasizing again and again the concept of the two Americas. That’s not to say that the others do not have specific policy positions, but their stump speeches tend to focus more on the vague ideas of "experience" versus "change." So Obama appropriately focused on the problems with politics as usual in his denunciation of "distractions."
As for Mrs. Clinton- well, her segment may have been the most enlightening of all. She continued to push her package as an experienced problem-solver who can get things done, yet the voters have never really ratified that strategy. Voters do generally see her as more experienced than Obama, but they also see change as more important than experience. Her "3 A.M." comment referenced of one of the more infamous campaign moments. The success or failure of the Red Phone ad is still unclear, but it was derided as Rovian by many Dems, and the second Red Phone ad, regarding economic matters, was simply ridiculous. The way she treats the ad as a punch line seems as though she’s acknowledging that it didn’t really stem Obama’s tide. Similarly, she recently joked with Jay Leno about being under sniper fire, which just reminded people of an embarrassing lie (or "misstatement," as she generously terms it) that cut to the heart of her claim of experience. Self-deprecation can be charming, but belittling some of the key events of your campaign is odd. One would think a candidate who wants to win would be looking forward, rather than mocking past mistakes. Hang on- I just figured out who she reminds me of: Mike Huckabee, circa late February. Think back to Seth Myers explaining to Huckabee how it was mathematically impossible for him to win, and Huck's sheepish "Oops," and tell me you don't see the resemblance.