MEET LIBERIA'S NEW CELEBRITY PRESIDENT


The Oprah2020 suggestion may have sounded crazy when it consumed the news cycle after the Golden Globes this year but is it actually so implausible nowadays or is this a new direction we're heading in?

Case in point: today a soccer player will be inaugurated as president of Liberia.

"Um… Sorry, did you say a soccer player?"

Yep. Soccer. You know, the game that's like football except you use your feet. And today ex-soccer player George Weah will become president of Liberia. Not president of their soccer federation, but of their country. He'll be in charge of their economy, defence forces and potentially the ebola virus if that gets popular again.

Now I have to admit at this point, I haven't done nearly enough research to know whether he's up to the task. But the articles I've read are sceptical. According to Al Jazeera, "he will face the challenging task of reviving a resilient yet deeply divided, poorly managed, post-war country."

Good thing he's got mad soccer skills.

He also broke Portuguese-soccer-player Jorge Costa's nose after a match in 1996 so he's also got a mean punch in his repertoire. Either that or Costa had a weak nose…
Either way, I think we can all agree that Costa's nose is probably quite weak now.

I won't assert that Weah isn't currently qualified to run the country because I don't know. What I find interesting in his first run for presidency in 2005, without any formal education or experience, having retired from football in 2003.

In the first round of voting he got 28.3% of the vote and when that qualified him to run against Ellen Sirleaf in a two-candidate election, he got 40.6% of the vote.
40.6%!!!
Not to a politician but to a soccer player... Although credit where credit's due, he was 1995's FIFA World Player of the Year.

Flash forward to today, Trump's been elected to the most powerful position in the world and half of Hollywood is ready to endorse Oprah for 2020.

It begs the question, are these just anomolies or are we likely to start seeing more celebrities getting elected to public office? Perhaps so. We do tend to trust them more than politicians. They're also capable of appealing to a broader demographic as they won't be viewed purely within the context of their political alignment.
Perhaps trust is more important to us than actual governing capabilities… Who knows?

Not me. For actual answers it might be better to read in-depth articles from real journalists rather than blog posts from a guy whose number one priority for today is 'buy more cheese'.

But if I had to guess, I'd be willing to bet we'll start to see more celebrities in public office in the future and I somehow doubt the memes will be worth it.



22/01/2018
Back to blog homepage