Celebrities, politics don’t mix

Right now, America needs a prune,” comedian Stephen Colbert said. “It may not be a young, sexy plum. Granted, it is shriveled and at times hard to swallow. But this dried-up old fruit has the experience we need.”

Comedian John Stewart disagreed.

“You know after eight years of prunes, you would think –,” he said.

“Never enough,” Colbert responded. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Such was the scene throughout the 60th Emmy Awards Sept. 21 – one celebrity after the other bantering his or her political views and campaigns.

Nominees including Tom Hanks, Martin Sheen and Jay Roach followed Colbert and Stewart, each turning an annual Hollywood event into another National Convention.

And almost all presented the same message: Make sure you vote.

“It’s going to get close again this election,” Roach, director of HBO’s “Recount,” said during the acceptance of his Emmy. “Keep your local officials honest and please vote, vote, vote, vote.”

That’s original.

Celebrities continue to show their faces in the upcoming election but forget to present innovative messages. They force their way into leadership positions for election campaigns only to flash their Hollywood smiles and travel on.

And America’s appreciation – or lack thereof – for celebrities engaged in politics was apparent as the Emmy Awards recorded its lowest viewing turnout in history, 12 percent below last year’s record low, according to a TV Tracker report.

Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker recently showed a crowd of UNF students, faculty and staff how celebrity campaigning works.

Escorted by UPD and campaign officials, Whitaker joined a few hundred members of the UNF community on the Green Sept. 26.

His 20-minute appearance focused on his commitment to Sen. Barack Obama and urging students to commit to voting.

“You have to make sure you do everything you can to change [the economy,]” Whitaker said. “You have to vote because it’s your future. [The president] represents you.”

Whitaker spoke of his interaction with Obama and how he felt he was the man who could pull the country back together. Then he smiled, reminded everyone to vote – again – and followed his escorts off the Green.

The list goes on of celebrities who attempt to influence America by repeating each other.

Actress Jessica Alba posed as the poster child for a nonprofit campaign, Declare Yourself, to encourage young voters to register.

The ad released in September features Alba with tears in her eyes, duct tape covering her mouth and body and the phrase, “Only you can silence yourself.” This was just one of the many ways the actress, who actively supports Obama, participated in the upcoming election.

“I really don’t see the point in not registering to vote,” Alba said in the Declare Yourself campaign. “It makes more sense to spend your time making a change in society ­–­­ and it actually doesn’t take that much time! It takes more time to make a music playlist than it does to register to vote.”

Yes, it is important to vote – most would agree.

But celebrities like Alba, Whittaker and the Emmy crew, who actively support a candidate, need to spend more time explaining the depth of their support – if they give time to campaigning at all.

If not, celebrities need to take to heart the results of a recent New York Times poll, which revealed that the majority of those surveyed think celebrities should stay out of politics all together.