MTV offers new glimpses of Kerry
The first Actual Young Person to show up on MTV News's "Choose or Lose: 20 Million Questions for John Kerry'' is a fresh-faced guy with punk hair; think Kerry's famous mop if it were coaxed into spikes and gelled to stand upright. He looks radical enough, but his question for Kerry has the awkward tone of a college kid trying to sound smart: What's "the principal difference between the politics of your administration and that of the Bush administration?''
Yawn, you think, and then, uh-oh. Is MTV about to deliver yet another forum for well-worn campaign platitudes? "Meet the Press'' with hand-held cameras and a rock soundtrack? Fortunately, no. The half-hour special, which airs at 10:30 tonight, finds its footing after a while, and manages to offer some glimpses into a Kerry we haven't much seen. Given the number of TV outlets competing for a piece of campaign action, that's an accomplishment in itself.
Politics has always been a balancing act for MTV executives, who want to appeal to attention-deficit-addled viewers while fulfilling what executives see as their civic duty. (They also swear they're committed to being nonpartisan, and hope to do a similar show on President Bush.) That could be why, as journalism goes, this special feels a bit soft; there are no Russert-esque "gotcha'' questions; the biography is glowing, and the verite footage doesn't get more exciting than watching reporters bowl oranges down the aisle of Kerry's plane.
But especially because MTV lets young people ask a fair share of the questions themselves, Kerry speaks on subjects you don't hear much about on the news channels. In one answer that has gained some attention, Kerry says he believes sexuality is innate. The reply is stark enough to prompt the 26-year-old host, Gideon Yago, to ask one of his few follow-up questions, this one on gay marriage and equality. And while Kerry gives a characteristically nonspecific answer about censorship, it's enlightening, in this blame-the-artists era, to hear him say of hip-hop: "There's a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it, and I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully, because it's important.''
It's even worthwhile to see Kerry grapple with one young person's question: ``Were you cool in college, and are you cool now?'' He's politician enough to give a diplomatic answer: "If I told you I was cool, I wouldn't be cool.'' But then he goes on: "My daughter would probably tell you I'm a freak at times.''
The answer is so honest it's almost charming, and it goes a long way toward making Kerry look three-dimensional. One could argue that showing up on MTV is pandering - though no more, it would seem, than showing up at an AARP forum - but Kerry, in his red tie and dark suit, manages to come across as himself, stiff and craggy and generally uncool.
And that could be precisely what young voters want, according to one young woman, who gives Kerry what could be the highest youth endorsement possible.
"When it comes to a president,'' she says, "I'm not looking for a friend. I'm looking for a leader. And I think that although Kerry may not seem like someone I might necessarily want to hang out with, he certainly seems like he knows what he's doing.''
