Who's Afraid of Stephen Colbert?

What does it say about the US Presidential race and the media when comedian Stephen Colbert writes about his candidacy in Maureen Dowd's New York Times column in the heat of the campaign? - less than 13 months before the election! I can promise you that no small group of voters thought approvingly about a Colbert presidency upon reading the column. Heck, his, or John Stewart's, candidacy has been raised at more cocktail parties this year than I can remember.

The US Presidency is one of the most powerful offices in the world. And the New York Times is one of the most respected newspapers in the world. Together, these institutions embody enough gravitas for a black hole. How can it be that Stephen Colbert can switch all that off? What does the New York Times editorial board know about US voters' attitudes that enables a "thumbs-up" for publication of Colbert's ramble?

The editorial decision might just have been taken just so the paper could look "hip" by tossing a bone to popular culture. That doesn't sound quite on to me, but it is possible. More likely, the New York Times has had to acknowledge that Comedy Central is nipping at its heels. And Comedy Central has been doing much more than nip when it comes to the White House. So to decline to publish Colbert not only would make the New York Times seem uncool, it would make the paper seem out of touch. Imagine Colbert telling the story on his show of arriving at Dowd's place, writing his column, and having the paper decline to publish. Ouch.

Fourth of July Homework

It's the Fourth of July, the birth date of the United States. I am planning on purchasing a paper copy of the New York Times today and reading a re-print of the Declaration of Independence again, imaged in its original script. Somehow that full-page run of the document on July 4 always adds an intimacy to the text. One can feel quite close to the authors. If you haven't recently, I urge you to check it out and read through the whole thing methodically.

No matter how cynical you may be, you have to admit that the thing is well drawn. Well conceived from the perspective of drumming up support among the population of North America and from the perspective of explaining the thinkers' rationale to other countries. In many senses, the document is evidence of some truly transformative thinking, and it is a crisp articulation of the means for implementing the transformation. I haven't read it yet today, so my memory will be less crisp. But I am looking forward to even the introduction - "When in the course of human events...." And "We hold these truths to be self evident...."

These men were capable of placing their lives and fortunes in a global context, and they drew on their thorough understanding of government and related philosophy. The world can be proud of their accomplishments, and it can learn from them. As I have written before on this page, my intuition tells me that the world is now in need of another transformation in the conception and deployment of sovereign power. I have not yet fleshed out what that transformation should be or how it should be driven. But I consider that the US Declaration of Independence will be powerful guidance for those who want to think "outside of the box" in repairing the world.

So for all you US presidential candidates and campaign teams so breathily criticizing each other for the same old things, please take some time today to think about the Declaration. Not just as another school book text that was shown to you and explained generically as the United States' founding document. Not just as another image and sound bite proving your patriotism once again. But as a continuation of your education and training in governing creatively and conceiving solutions that exceed anything ever seen before.

I would happily vote for the candidate who takes this path of self-education and is able to propose and to drum up US and global support for the next welfare-enhancing transformation. As for those of you who prefer to bicker about whether it is more evil to pardon Scooter Libby for criminally outing a CIA agent or to pardon Marc Rich for criminally avoiding the tax laws, I think I'll take a pass.