Party Political

I'd say no.

I've never actually seen the Robin Williams film in which he's the President of the United States, and leads the country using wit and satire. I did read the IMDB plot summary of the film, and according to that, his victory owed itself to a voting systems glitch. In spite of the fact that even in the movie he was not truly chosen to lead our country, I think it's important to understand some of the reasons why a candidate with a similar outlook on reality would probably not do very well in the polls, given our current political climate.

As long as I can remember, there's been the need to be able to take our leaders seriously. Only when you have absolute faith in a leader can you allow him or her the freedom to laugh at things, but even then, laughter is usually kept to a minimum. In a system far from perfect, time is better spent on coming up with solutions than coming up with jokes.

Sure, pointing out something that is funny because it is flawed makes us feel better. Sure humor and laughter are methods for confronting problems. And sure, making light of something sheds light on it, exposing an issue that needs to be addressed. But when all you do is expose issues, and never really address them, you're not truly leading.

Even if a leader were to spend the majority of his time off-camera working to resolve his country's problems, if the only things his or her citizens saw of him on-camera included cracking jokes and winning in a battle of wits, they'd naturally assume that that is the full scope of his official duties. That would weaken morale and citizen confidence, and do unnecessary damage to the state of a nation.

In this day and age, we need a leader who can take him/herself seriously, and can be taken seriously. Sure, there must be leeway for light-hearted moments, but light-heartedness should be the exception, not the rule.

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