Colbert '08?

Hey... they tried it with Robin Williams in "Man of the Year".

On the Stephen Colbert show a few days ago, he was talking about Fred Thompson running for president when Colbert asked for a sign to tell him whether or not he should run as well. The sign, of course, was a man with a hood and sword calling Colbert "my lord". This situation only brings up the fact that... what if he did? What's really stopping him at this point? He probably has just about as many followers as Obama or Clinton. For evidence I'd like to point out how many people he has wearing his "wrist strong" bracelets around the country. Lance Armstrong had an actual cause and some people wouldn't wear it... and yet Colbert has gotten Matt Lauer from the Today Show to wear it... ON AIR.
The power that this man alone wields is, to me, quite interesting. Not because he is powerful, because he's hilarious so why shouldn't he be? Dane Cook is, for Christ's sake. The weird thing to me is that it's not even really Stephen with all of this power. It's his character. What shows up on Comedy Central after the Daily Show is not really Stephen Colbert talking; it's the character he has created. What's fascinated about this is that he never breaks character. He interviews people using his attitude and arrogant exterior, while it's not his true nature to do so. He's said in interviews before that what the audience sees is not his real self, it's the man that he brought from the Daily Show that made a huge splash in that demographic.
So, if this isn't even a real character showing up nightly, why would people want him to be their leader? Well, they have done less. There are animals named after him, not to mention a bridge in Europe. Oh, yeah, and unofficial websites for his candidacy.
The first website, Colbertocrat.com, a group explains why Colbert would be a good president and why people should vote for him. They have even started an online petition asking Colbert to run in the election.
Another site is run by bloggers who think that he should run and want to be prepared when he announces so. This includes articles such as "Colbert: Not a Witch" and "Super Colbert to the Rescue?". The latter even includes a comic of Colbert as the Hulk which everyone should probably check out.

In the wider scope of things, however, one has to look at what Stephen Colbert as president would accomplish. How would a comedian/news man do at leading the country? My guess is not well. No offense to Robin Williams, but "Man of the Year" didn't pan out so well either. Colbert is an educated, intelligent, eloquent guy, but doesn't exactly have the experience or qualifications for the job other than the fact that people like him. Of course people like him. It's the same reason that people love Jon Stewart. These two are intelligent citizens who bring a sense of humor to the news because they're educated enough to understand that our system is RIDICULOUS. Real news men have to report what happens, while Stewart and Colbert can add their opinions with humor because they're, for the most part, correct.
These two are allowed to add in their two cents with these stories because they're not supposed to be taken seriously. People are supposed to know that what they say isn't necessarily 100% true. But do they?
Many appear to think that what appears on their TVs is the real Stephen Colbert, and what Jon Stewart says is the definite truth, like in the real news. The problem here is... they're dead wrong.

While I'm a fan of Colbert, I think that people need to quit focusing on his fake campaign and maybe start looking at the possibilities of our real candidates. The petitions and websites are only going to hurt this next election, because people will ignore the real issues and instead continue pleading that Colbert should run and represent their generation. Problem: their generation won't get represented if they never understand or support the candidates that may actually win.