Send In the Clowns: Stewart & Colbert

My favorite comment on today's political scene: "Send in the Clowns," because it's the comedians who come closer to doing real journalism these days than the talking heads on TV, especially cable news programs. As in Shakespeare: it's the fool who can speak truth to the king. It's also an ironic comment, given that so many real politicians act like clowns, ie the ones whose antics are often outrageous.

So now we've had the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" and it sounds like a winner on many counts. We always like to have crowd estimates, so this one is estimated by the park service to be "well over 200,000." News organizations put it at 210,000 (CBS) to 250,000, compared to 87,000 for Glenn Beck's rally.

Stewart's plan was clear: attract a crowd, give them some entertainment, talk a little but keep it lite and inspiring. Not red meat politics. The main thing was the simple presence of people who came to have a good time, in peace, and with a measure of sanity.

Stewart's closing message was simple but elevating: the media elevates the trivia and fans the flames of fear and hate, but most Americans go on, day in and day out, getting things done, cooperating with each other, and living in harmony. As images of slow-moving traffic played on giant screens behind him, he closed by using the metaphor of cars merging to go through the Lincoln Tunnel between NY and NJ:

These cars -- that’s a school teacher who thinks taxes are too high…there’s a mom with two kids who can’t think about anything else...another car, the lady’s in the NRA. She loves Oprah…An investment banker, gay, also likes Oprah…a Latino carpenter…a fundamentalist vacuum salesman…a Mormon Jay Z fan…But this is us. Everyone of the cars that you see is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear -- often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers.

And yet these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze one by one into a mile-long, 30-foot wide tunnel carved underneath a mighty river…And they do it. Concession by concession. You go. Then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go -- oh my god, is that an NRA sticker on your car, an Obama sticker on your car? Well, that’s OK. You go and then I’ll go…"Sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute. But that individual is rare and he is scorned, and he is not hired as an analyst.

Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together and the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.

If you want to know why I’m here and what I want from you I can only assure you this: you have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted. Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you.

Lovely. Clowns do it best, sometimes.

Ralph