Does satire affect US politics?

It is a truism that culture plays a major role in US politics.  Most media commentators date this phenomenon to Richard Nixon’s 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns, with his condemnation of an alleged Democratic party-leaning ‘elite’ and successful appeals to the ‘silent majority’ of ordinary Americans.  This has been a recurrent Republican theme ever since; Senator John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate indicates that the ‘culture war’ leitmotif is still considered potent. 

But if culture is seen as an advantage for the Right, does political US political satire generally bolster the Left?  There are many anecdotal, and a few empirical, suggestions that it does.

 

Tina’s Sarah

The US comedian and writer Tina Fey has developed an amusing caricature of Palin for the NBC’s Saturday Night Live.  What makes Fey’s portrayal so effective is that it is not mean-spirited or demeaning; it often merely exaggerates some of Palin’s most electorally appealing qualities, such as her ebullient charm.  Much of the dialogue is a recapitulation of the governor’s own statements.  Satire is the most cutting when it contains an element of truth.

Has Fey’s take on Palin affected the national political debate?  It is clear that Palin’s middling to poor performances in a series of media interviews, particularly an extended encounter with CBS, hurt her standing with moderate and independent voters.  Satire did not increase her unfavourable numbers in the polls, but it may have helped solidify and entrench the conventional wisdom about her candidacy.

 

Obama immunity?

Another curious feature of satirical comedy in the context of the presidential race is how little has been directed at Democratic candidate Barack Obama.  Neither Obama nor McCain are particularly conducive to satirical renderings, particularly relative to the current White House incumbent.  While both men have verbal tics (Obama laces his non-prepared comments with ‘ums’, ‘ers’, and other hesitations, and McCain is fond of repeating ‘my friends’ ad nauseum) neither fires off malapropisms, non-sequiturs and otherwise garbled syntax with the aplomb of President George Bush.  They also both evidence a relatively sophisticated grasp of policy detail, without being pedantic in public settings.

Yet Obama’s African-American ethnicity may also have insulated him somewhat, as satirising a black candidate might be seen to carry unusual risks.  His youth and relative lack of national exposure may also account for this comparatively light touch.  The notion that a shared left-wing background has led many comedians to eschew caricaturing the candidate is more far-fetched.  Bill Clinton, after all, was the frequent object of comic barbs.

 

Comedy as news

The media is intensely distrusted in the United States -- just 9% of US citizens have a ‘great deal’ of trust in the media’s ability to report events ‘fairly and accurately’.  Some voters -- particularly 18-29 year olds -- have actually turned to satirical news shows, such as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s programmes on Comedy Central (a US cable television channel) as alternative sources of information.  It may not be entirely coincidental that voters from this age cohort heavily favour Obama.