Presidential Hopefuls Love Sesame Street
Big Bird For President! Characters And Guests Love Politics
Sesame Street kicks off its landmark 40th season this week, the start of 26 new episodes. One of the segments in the season premiere has Michelle Obama, Elmo, Big Bird, and some kids gardening. The First Family added a garden to the White House lawn this spring, in an effort to encourage families to eat fresh food.
But this isn't the first time Sesame Street has had a First Lady as a guest, been the guest of First Ladies, and even run for the nation's highest office themselves.
Big Bird For President?
It's mostly been forgotten these days, but Big Bird once ran for Presidential office in 1976, the year of America's Bicentennial celebration. The plotline ran back in the earliest days of Sesame Street, in episode 797; the series is now well over 4200 episodes in. Just an average resident on the world's most famous street, Big Bird learned that holding such an office is a great responsibility. Big Bird created an elaborate campaign, complete with a new Presidential seal, but ended the project before the end of the episode.
In 1988, the Sesame Place Presidential Election was held, at the popular Pennsylvania theme park. Running under the slogan "Birds of a feather flock together", he campaigned against Bert, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Grover, the Honkers (collectively), and Prairie Dawn—a rather full ballot, considering Presidential campaigns usually have two or three candidates on ballots across the country.
Big Bird won, with 24% of the total vote, which included children and adults, and even tourist from out of country.
In I Want to Be President, a 1993 book, Betty Lou fantasizes about running for office. She visits foreign head of states, hold press conferences, and holds the annual White House easter egg hunt.
Presidential Parrot
H. Ross Perot (a 1992 independent candidate, 1996 Reform Party nominee) was parodied on Sesame Street in the early 1990s, with the skinny, ruffled avian character H. Ross Parrot. Debuting in spring of 1993, he tried to promote use of the alphabet.
In Newsweek, Perot commented "I'm sure that parrot thinks he's much better looking than I am."
More recent attempts at political humor, in the form of a Grouchland television station named POX News, have resulted in backlash. There was no evident backlash to this earlier parody, although Perot would later comment the character was perhaps more known than he was.
“Not Only That, I Play The President On TV”
Various actors appearing on Sesame Street have played the President of the United States, on TV or movie, including Geena Davis (Commander in Chief, 2005-2006), James Earl Jones (The Man, 1972), John Goodman (The West Wing, albeit only "Acting" President, 2003), and Robin Williams (Man of the Year, 2006 and Night at the Museum, 2006).
Presidential Would-Bes, Before Being A Would-Be
But what of Sesame Street guest stars who have run for President in real life? Just in 2008 alone, there were four Sesame connections to the campaign. A series of public service announcements (PSAs) run in 2006 included Mike Huckabee and Christopher Dodd, who both took a shot at the Republican nomination. Frequent collaborator Hillary Clinton ran for the Democratic nomination. Comedian Stephen Colbert tried getting either the Democratic or Republican nomination in South Carolina; he appeared in a Sesame Street DVD.
In the 1970s, the Reverend Jesse Jackson appeared near the steps of 123 Sesame Street, to recite his poem "I Am Somebody" to the kids. In 1984 and 1988, Jackson ran for the Democratic Party nomination. Perpetual candidate Ralph Nader appeared on the show to sing "People In Your Neighborhood" with Bob, including a verse about how "the consumer advocate is a person in your neighborhood". Nader ran in 1992 as a write-in candidate, 1996 and 2000 as the Green Party nominee, and 2004 and 2008 as an independent.
For More On Presidential Sesame Street visit Muppet Wiki's article President of the United States.
Big Bird for President
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Michelle Obama on Sesame Street.
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