- YouTube
Earlier this month, when I first saw Mayor Rahm’s “Mister Rogers” ad, the one in which he wears a sweater and humbly admits that he can sometimes rub people the wrong way, I laughed. Then I felt a bit sad that Rahm’s campaign had spent so much money to make him appear at least as likable as Chuy Garcia and his big, cheerful mustache and ended up with something that at any other time might have been mistaken for performance art. (I mean, screw issues, right?)
At the time, I dismissed this as one more crazy discovery in a weekend full of crazy discoveries. (The good ones were some surprisingly well-written Wooster/Jeeves slash and Hetalia: World Powers, which tells the story of 20th-century politics through the medium of romance between pretty boys in military uniforms and would actually be a good teaching tool in high schools. The bad ones I have tried very hard to forget.) Though I had to admit, there was a bit of charm in the dispensation of justice via gifts of dead fish and Eli’s. It was very direct.
But still. There must be some significance in the fact that Rahm is more likable in fan fiction and political satire than in a choreographed campaign ad. Rahm says in the Mister Rogers ad, “They say that your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.” Well, maybe Rahm’s greatest weakness (well, one of them anyway), his reputation for being an asshole, could also be his greatest strength.
