Since the unofficial start of the 2012 Presidential campaign marathon is the day after the mid-term elections on Nov. 3, it is not to early to suggest a more effective and entertaining method of selecting the Republican 2012 presidential candidate, rather than that old, boring, worn down, dragged out primary system with endless debates and thousands of Ronald Reagan references.
Instead, how about a reality show contest that combines the best of “American Idol” and “Celebrity Apprentice” with the suggested title “America’s Next President?” (Emphasis on the question mark to be fair to the current White House occupant who could still be cleaning up tar balls on Cape Cod beaches come November 2012.)
The reality show genre has been proven effective for selecting the best dancers, singers, chefs, models, fashion lines, and Donald Trump wannabes, so why not use that formula for the selection of the 2012 Republican presidential candidate?
Here is the reality, the current GOP crop of presidential contenders are all tied up in a four-way traffic jam according to the latest poll of Republican voters. Mike Huckabee leads the pack at 25 percent, presumed GOP front-runner Mitt Romney (no longer presumed) stands at 23 percent,
Newt Gingrich makes a showing at 21 percent, and Queen Sarah is closely behind at 20 percent.
This colorful group of type A personalities is quite capable of providing delightful entertainment, so let them battle it out in a pop culture format because we all know nothing excites America more than celebrity smackdowns.
“America’s Next President?” is destined to improve the staid image of the Republican Party with the winner emerging as a rock star media savvy candidate, camera ready to battle The One, who once was and still is “most famous celebrity in the world.”
So here is the show pitch (first to MSNBC to help boost their pitiful ratings):
Starting on Nov. 3, 2010, the presidential aspirants must declare themselves candidates for “America’s Next President?”. The show will air on Monday and Thursdays from mid November 2010 until August 2012 when the winner will be announced, just in time for the convention.
The candidate/contestants will break into two teams, Team Ronnie and Team Reagan.
The format will be somewhat like The Apprentice and Donald Trump will be The Judge.
Monday’s episode will determine how well candidates manage a domestic crisis such as recovering from a major hurricane, foiling a terrorist attack, capping an oil spill, managing party crashers and avoiding bad publicity about expensive haircuts and wardrobes.
Thursday’s show will highlight international issues like starting wars, ending wars, nuking rogue nations, dealing with crazy dictators, and not apologizing for American exceptionalism.
Each problem or crisis must be resolved by the end of the show, when The Donald will select the winning team. This is important for ratings because American voters have very short attention spans.
Every one is encouraged to watch but only registered Republican voters can call or text in their vote for the candidate who demonstrates the best leadership skills, appears coolest under pressure and most important, who looks and acts most “presidential.”
The grand finale will be in June of 2012 when the team with the most weekly wins and the highest vote-getter on that team will have earned the title “America’s Next President?”…. ready to face the president in a general election and remove that question mark.
“America’s Next President?” formalizes what we already know; it’s a candidate’s media image that determines the winner. Remember that’s why we elected our current president; no experience but he looked good and sounded great, the perfect pop culture president.
The winner of this show will be President Obama’s equal on the celebrity scale AND have crisis management skills blessed by Donald Trump. Sounds like a perfect presidential candidate.
However, the final episode has a surprise ending.
Donald Trump pulls a Dick Cheney (who you may remember headed George W. Bush’s vice presidential search committee in 2000 and ended up as vice president), and Trump declares himself the 2012 Republican presidential candidate to wild applause from the studio audience and in a final act of bravado removes the question mark from the show logo.
Obama vs. Trump 2012 now that will be great American entertainment.
Myra Adams is a media producer, writer and political observer. Her media clients have included national associations, political interest groups and corporations. She was on the creative team with Mark McKinnon that created the now infamous John Kerry “Windsurfing” ad for the Bush 2004 presidential campaign and served on the McCain Ad Council during the 2008 McCain campaign. Myra’s web site TheJesusStore.com contributes all profits to Christian charity.