The Packaging of America

At first glance, it’s a standard commercial for pain relievers—neutral background, earnest expert. Then, suddenly, this figure risks undermining the authority we had automatically ceded to him as he confides that “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV.” Clearly, he doesn’t mean it as a joke, although at least one professional, and who knows how many amateur, comedians have substituted “president” for “doctor,” reinforcing one’s sense that the actor’s confession has somehow strengthened his authority after all. For neither jokes about the president’s being an actor nor his repeated confessions that he’s no expert seem to disturb the voting public. Last year, ...