The Just “Fix It” Election
Actress/comedian Tina Fey gained a lot of much-deserved attention (and ratings) for her spot-on impersonation of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live,” but in retrospect, it may have been another of the show’s creations that captured the true zeitgeist of the 2008 election.
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Keenan Thompson played a “financial expert” for the show’s “Weekend Update” segments named Oscar Rogers, a not-so-subtle nod to the hoards of real such experts who have flooded TV screens throughout the current financial crisis. Nattily attired as if he just stepped off the market floor, this sage dispenser of financial advice had just one thing to say – somebody better “fix it!”
“How do we go about fixing it specifically?” he asked. “Take it one step at a time. Identify the problem -- fix it! Identify another problem -- fix it! Proceed as necessary until it is all fixed!” (You can watch the performance here, it’s about 2:10 into the clip).
A big part of the reason why President-election Barack Obama’s message of “change” resonated so powerfully was the sense among the electorate that things were broken and needed to be fixed, especially on the economy which voters consistently said was the most important issue by far. Less obvious is whether they voted for any specific remedy or simply a wholesale change to --- something.
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Keenan Thompson played a “financial expert” for the show’s “Weekend Update” segments named Oscar Rogers, a not-so-subtle nod to the hoards of real such experts who have flooded TV screens throughout the current financial crisis. Nattily attired as if he just stepped off the market floor, this sage dispenser of financial advice had just one thing to say – somebody better “fix it!”
“How do we go about fixing it specifically?” he asked. “Take it one step at a time. Identify the problem -- fix it! Identify another problem -- fix it! Proceed as necessary until it is all fixed!” (You can watch the performance here, it’s about 2:10 into the clip).
A big part of the reason why President-election Barack Obama’s message of “change” resonated so powerfully was the sense among the electorate that things were broken and needed to be fixed, especially on the economy which voters consistently said was the most important issue by far. Less obvious is whether they voted for any specific remedy or simply a wholesale change to --- something.
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