This past Saturday, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee decided to make a little pit stop at the long-running, sometimes-funny "Saturday Night Live." With sketches ranging from Dana Carvey's Bush No. 1 to Darrell Hammond's Al Gore to the dead-on impersonation of Bush No. 2 by Will Ferrell, "SNL" has become the go-to show for every young generation's political satire in the last 30 years. Therefore, I was not surprised to see Huckabee, who has also been frequenting "The Colbert Report," sitting right next to Seth Meyers at the "Weekend Update" desk trying to make a bid to the 18 to 25 audience in an attempt to save his failing campaign.
Huckabee is not the first presidential candidate to make the rounds on "SNL." Barack Obama made a short appearance in a sketch early on in his campaign, and front-runner John McCain and ex-candidate Rudy Giuliani both have hosted episodes in the last decade. For that reason, I have to wonder, do these short, at times funny, but always awkward appearances on such a cult monster as "SNL" really affect the way young Americans eventually use their voting power? Does the fact that Obama appeared on "SNL" very early on in his campaign set the stage for him to become the new, hip presidential candidate up against the old bureaucracy like Clinton and McCain (who, by the way, will be the oldest president ever if he wins)?
I think it does. When Clinton No. 1 was running for office, he basically put all his campaign force behind the MTV generation, even going as far as admitting to smoking a joint. His two consecutive terms showed that this tactic worked. However, voting has still been at an all-time low for college age students in the last 25 years, and the very small margins that past presidents have been winning on seem to show that these current candidates are trying to get the young voters back into the voting booth.
Therefore, these politicians are beginning to realize that to get the young generation back into the voting arena, they need to begin relating to us. Or at least that's what the "SNL," "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" appearances would show.
Now, I realize that it must be difficult for these older, richer, "what the heck is an iPod?" politicians to really attempt to relate to our junk food-eating, reality-TV-watching generation, but I must say that I appreciate the effort.
Despite the fact that I basically disagree with everything Mike Huckabee stands for, the fact that he appeared on "SNL" and "Colbert" at least says that he cares what I think. His being on that show certainly won't make me vote for him, but if I had to choose between a candidate that seemed to care about my concerns and opinions over one that seems to care less, I think I'll go with the first. Our generation needs to begin taking strides to being counted and appreciated by politicians who will eventually lead us down the good old American way. We need to show that our opinions and issues matter.
When it comes time to vote, I want a candidate who has shown that he or she cares about our generation and the issues that will affect our future like global warming, health care and foreign relations.
It comes down to the simple fact that every generation pays for the mistakes of the one before. So, by showing these current powerful people that our issues matter, we can see a brighter future opening up to us — a future with fewer mistakes to resolve, and fewer wounds to heal.
It's time that what we have to say is not something to be overlooked or thought of as idealistic or ignored because of our age. Whitney Houston said it the corniest, "I believe the children are the future." Generation Y, let's lead the way.
Sarah can be reached via e-mail at: sarah.maschoff@asu.edu.
