The Evolution of Mean: Satire in the American
Elections of 1980 and 2008 Compared
A comparison of the American presidential elections of 1980 and 2008
seems, at first blush, to be an arbitrary choice. The former resulted in a
Republican landslide under Ronald Reagan and the latter a Democrat victory
under Barack Obama. Furthermore, the Reagan era has already been studied,
whereas right now it seems premature to speak of Obama’s legacy.
Nevertheless, the two elections have numerous historical parallels. The 1980
campaign featured a president with dismal approval ratings who was seen as
impotent in managing problems in Afghanistan and Iran, and whose domestic
policies had given rise to stagflation and an energy crisis: “the stock market
limped along. . . the housing business was in shambles, the auto industry was
asthmatic, and the trade deficit was at an all-time high.”1 The description could
as easily apply to George W. Bush’s America in 2008. Jimmy Carter was
demonized by some cynics as the worst president ever, and the appellation now
seems both quaint and eerie.
Humor columnist Dave Barry deadpans that calling something satire
usually means “you will not laugh once.”2 Why is election satire important? Its
study is critical because, just as fish do not realize they are in water, we do not
realize how much of our popular culture is based on political humor.
Occasionally the media recognize this condition. Slate pundit Troy Patterson
wrote in April 2008 about “the Satire Recession,” arguing that modem news
satire has declined into nothing more than “personality jokes”3 that rarely rise
above cutesy, ad-hominem gags. Yet satire in the 1980 election also rarely rose
above humor based on one-liners, and if anything, was safer and less partisan
than that of the 2008 campaign. I would like to, in fact, make the opposite
argument: in comparison to the 1980 American presidential election, the 2008
campaign featured satire which was more biting, more partisan, and was used by
a media more aware of satire’s political role and influence.
The 1980 Presidential Campaign
The 1980 presidential elections shaped up as a perfect storm for incumbent
president Jimmy Carter: “Inflation, recession, hostages, unemployment—they
combined in a truly beatable combination.”4 The Democrat party was weakened
by spats between Carter and his staff and a lead \