Levi Johnston is running for Mayor of Wasilla, reality show and all.
Remember Sarah Palin? While the Tea Party’s topmost kettle has been keeping her whistle at low volume these days, leave it to little Levi to blow it. The sporadically bachelored single father has decided to take his everyman American roots (redneck turned parent turned playboy) and run for Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska—you know, the very same post that propelled his baby mama’s mama right to the governorship heard ’round the world.
And in case you were worried about the over exposure of politicians in recent times, what with Obama and Biden both on “The View” and one Nancy Pelosi on “Top Chef”, fear not: Johnston’s entire run will be captured on a forthcoming reality show, cleverly titled “Loving Levi: The Road to the Mayor’s Office.”
It’s not as though celebrities haven’t done their fair share to help shape this great nation. While a slew of big authors took their own (failed) attempts at running for office—Mailer, Vargas Llosa, Sinclair and Vidal to name a few—people smart enough to write books never strike the general populous as entirely unqualified for the position. Because reading books like makes you smart, right?
It is this same comfort in familiarity that saw the likes of Ronald Reagan in 16000 Pennsylvania; the same appreciation of a good bod that allowed Arnold, Jesse Ventura and Scott Brown to go forth and prosper; the same love of “Law & Order” that deemed Fred Thompson the coolest senator ever, Republican or otherwise.
Reality television may seem a mere novelty, but the onslaught of trashy celebrities it leaves in its wake is telling of the times: They wouldn’t keep making the stuff if you didn’t keep watching, people.
In many ways, the Palins are a breath of organic air in this world of Snookies. You want real? Try a frumpy woman from Alaska with five kids and a fishing business. She’s now a household name, and how she managed to accomplish this without a stint on ‘Wife Swap” warrants the abuse of such fame by any would be son-in-law.
On levels bordering Inception, Levi Johnston deserves his fifteen minutes for reasons that don’t get much more real. He has unprotected sex and unabashedly exploits his own fame: things actual celebrities don’t acknowledge doing in an attempt to stay famous. Is he any less qualified to run for Mayor than Palin was back in 1992? I’m not saying the man’s got a gift for politics, but has the past not proven that with the right production company, anything is possible?
