Internet dumbfounded over resurfaced Abdul El-Sayed ‘Blue’s Clues’ spoof: ‘Can’t be real’

We watched the clip twice just to make sure we weren't being punked. A grown man running for the United States Senate, sitting there in a Blue's Clues style set doing a singsong bit about health care policy like he's talking to a room full of toddlers. It's real. It happened in June. And the internet's reaction, basically a collective "there's no way," tells you something about how badly some candidates have lost the thread on what running for higher office is supposed to look like.

Here's the thing. Gimmicks aren't automatically disqualifying. Politicians have been doing goofy stunts for votes since forever. But there's a difference between a candidate loosening up for a local access ad and a Senate hopeful choosing, as his actual campaign strategy, to cosplay a kids' show mascot while explaining policy in baby talk. It reads less like charisma and more like a guy who isn't sure his ideas can stand on their own, so he's wrapping them in felt puppets and a rhyme scheme.

Michigan voters are dealing with real stuff: the cost of groceries, factory jobs bleeding out, energy prices squeezing families every winter. A senator from that state is going to need to go toe to toe with serious people on serious problems. Instead we got a viral novelty video that plays great for fifteen seconds on a phone screen and says nothing at all about how he'd actually govern.

Maybe that's the whole strategy now, chase the algorithm, chase the laugh, worry about substance later. If so, fine, but don't be shocked when the video ages like a punchline instead of a pitch. Voters can enjoy a joke. They just don't usually hire the guy who told it.