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By now, there aren’t many people who haven’t heard of Mike Huckabee’s swift (and possibly temporary) rise to the top of this year’s Republican candidates. And similarly, there aren’t many who haven’t heard of Oprah’s recent stint campaigning with Democratic hopeful Barack Obama.
What you may not know, however, is that Obama’s endorsement from the iconic Oprah Winfrey pretty much fizzled, without any increase in public support, even as Huckabee’s success was immediately preceded by a high-profile celebrity endorsement of his own.
So why such a difference between the campaign strategies? Two words: Chuck Norris.
Just before Huckabee’s meteoric rise to prominence, he ran a short, simple television ad in the single state of Iowa. The ad’s message was a simple one. It showed Huckabee sitting quietly in a chair, ready to tell us about his latest policy decisions.
The Governor from Arkansas looks plainly into the camera, and says, “My plan to secure the border? Two words: Chuck Norris.” Then the camera pans over to reveal that he’s sitting next to Norris, whose much-lampooned career as a white, mustachioed martial artist has recently experienced a pop culture renaissance thanks to the website ChuckNorrisFacts.com.
The website pokes gentle fun at the “Delta Force” star by listing a series of fictional-and hilarious-”facts” about the supposed heights of Norris’ legend and ability.
Facts such as “When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris,” and “Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.”
The two men then trade “facts” about each other, with Huckabee quoting from the website, and Norris listing the reasons why he’s chosen to endorse the candidate. “There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard,” Huckabee says, “only another fist.” The action star then returns the favor, saying, “Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business.”
The ad was immediately posted on YouTube, and quickly garnered over a million views. Huckabbee’s campaign website, which also hosted the video, received so much traffic that it actually crashed. Two days later, Mike Huckabee had risen to a double-digit lead over Mitt Romney, his closest competitor.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama was announcing to the world that he had received the endorsement of his own popular celebrity, Oprah. Only instead of a modest commercial poking fun at themselves, Barack and Oprah unleashed their alliance upon the world in rock star-like fashion, with speeches at 20,000 seat stadiums, thousands of screaming fans, all that.
But despite this more impressive debut, Oprah and Obama fell flat. Where Huckabee seemed to be able to reach a new audience with his commercial, and show the public a different side of himself, Obama’s efforts were seen as little more than preaching to the choir.
And the choir was not that appreciative.
Oprah’s fans expressed dissatisfaction with her choice to publicly favor a candidate, fearful of what might come next now that she’s politicized herself. Other observers noted that Oprah’s speech seemed to be unnecessarily racial, almost suggesting that whites and blacks are pitted against one another in the election.
When it comes down to it, the difference is that Huckabee’s ad has the distinctly goofy air of two men who aren’t afraid to make fun of themselves, even when they’re discussing very serious issues. The public likes that he’s now proven himself capable of “getting” the humor of a pop culture-obsessed marketplace.
Obama, on the other hand, put on a show displaying two people who clearly take themselves far too seriously. The Obama/Oprah mega speeches had a tangible sense of self-satisfaction about them, almost as if they felt that just by showing up, they’d change the world forever.
Barack Obama may be this year’s spokesman for hope, but there’s no doubt that he just learned there’s a very thin line between optimism and arrogance.
Perhaps most fortuitous of all, one of the “facts” at ChuckNorrisFacts.com-which appeared long before Norris endorsed any candidate-is that “America is not a democracy. It’s a Chucktatorship.”
Enough said.
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31 Responses
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lol
This is a great one.
I hate Huckabee, but I LOVE NorrisFacts.com–I’m sure they’ll be thrilled that you gave them a plug.
yeah especially now that they’re getting sued by Norris himself.
It’s not NorrisFacts.com that’s gettin suied, its some guy who tried to use the Norris Facts in a book.
“Chuck Norris is so talented, he had to let a college website make him relevant again before he could sue them for damages.”
lol^^
I thought Huckabee was really cool for doing those Norris spots, then he said we should amend the constitution to reflect “God’s law.”
Support terminated.
Yeah whatever support “Huck” got among the “trendy youth” has pretty much evaporated after all the Jesus pandering.
It’s strange that uber-conservative Norris endorsed him. Huckabee is quite the liberal. He uses his Christian ideology as a foundation for helping the poor and implementing social programs. Not real high in the minds of fiscal conservatives.
As a huge Huckabee fan, I’m really glad to read this article by you Casey. I know you’re a liberal and all, and you like to rip on Huck, but at least you can still see some of his stronger points.
I disagree with this column–Obama’s stint with Oprah did him very well if you look at it
nother great 1.
Haha this is funny cept now chuck norris is hurting huckabee cuz he sayss that mccain won’t last the election cuz he’ll die first.
Oprah vs. Norris would be over with a KO in like 2 seconds.
No, Norris said that McCain wouldn’t last the *presidency* because of his age, not the election.
Still, it was a stupid thing to say. Also, learn to type in English
^^ “No” sounds like a real Right-winger, saying ‘learn to type in English.’ But also, that guy had terrible grammar.
All this crap is BS anyway. My question is why the F@^% isn’t anyone writing about Iraq and Afghanistan anymore? I mean c’mon.
We’ve got more terrorists in the world now than ever, convinced that America hates them, that we’re out to get their countries and ruin their societies, and all we can hear is that the “surge is working.”
Surge is working my aching ass. How in god’s name does a measure that makes us more necessary to Iraq, more embedded in that part of the world, more at risk, more vulnerable–how does that work?
Whatever. These people’s campaigns are such a joke. Go Hillary all the way.
Huckabee has since slid. His only hope now is for VP. But who would pick him?
Fred Thompson.
^^ lol
Belzer had a funny comment on Real Time tonight saying, “Half these Republicans are running with Jesus as their running mate.”
That’s Huckabee in a nutshell.
Huckabee IS a nutshell.
Belzer’s the one who is a nutshell. I hate how that guy always micro-manages the conversation and goes insane with his conspiracy theories and misinformed, tabloid political rhetoric.
Another quote from that same show is that he said Bill Clinton called Obama a “Street Hustler.” This had never been true. Hillary called one of his old bosses a “Slum lord” and Bill said something about Obama “Rolling the dice.” Some people try to pretend that these are racial epithets, but in reality they’re just paranoid delusions from people reinforcing racial stereotypes that normal people barely recognize anymore.
I mean, c’mon. “Roll the dice” means Obama is a black street thug who gambles constantly? I mean since when are we picking up on stereotypes from 1955?
I reall hope this “so-and-so is a nutshell” line catches on all around the world. I love it.
Don’t hassle the ‘Huck.
Now McCain’s got Sylvester Stallone in his pocket. Seriously Chuck Norris had better watch out.
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