OP/ED from guest columnist David Brooks

De Toqueville wrote that “Americans will shoot you for no apparent reason,” and no one lives that philosophy more elegantly than Saturday Night Live superstar Will Forte. Forte could have been a modern day Andrew Jackson had he turned his attention away from comedy and towards the rhetoric of war.

In his new book “Conservative Comedy and Iraqi Democracy”, Cato Institute scholar Dr. Pinchas Brooks, no relation, who happens to be my cousin, writes, ” ‘Git-r done’ is the unofficial mantra of our troops working in the Middle East. Well, the white, less-educated troops anyway.” He also details Forte’s brilliant impersonation of former Georgia senator Zell Miller, and claims it to be overtly conservative in it’s depiction of a “conservative hero.”

For his part, Forte humbly declined my request for tickets to this week’s live performance. Applying a method actor’s touch, he used the ingenuity of his most famous creation “MacGruber” to deftly put me on hold and never return to the phone.

I wanted to share with him the good news that he is gaining momentum as a possible candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2012. In an Iowa straw poll held at my recent Atonement dinner, Forte finished in a tie with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum for third place behind Sarah Palin and former professional wrestler, Junk Yard Dog. Though I think the latter may have been from the lobbying efforts of my youngest son, Lonnie, who is 33.

While people are saying Forte seems uninformed about value voters’ concerns regarding the public option and Roman Polanski, one cannot underestimate his impersonation of South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson. Forte becomes transformed from motley clothed jester into a genuine voice of an aggrieved nation wondering how they’re going to pay their bills or buy new plastic lawn furniture at the nearest Exurbian Wal-Mart.

President Obama had better be paying attention. Just as he promised change but has so far delivered status quo. Let’s face it, Chicago could have not hosted the 2016 Olympics without him. Meanwhile, Forte is slowly building grassroots momentum on the strength of his many funny voices. When I see “The Falconer” sketches, I think, I’m looking at the face of the 5th Rushmore monument.

The liberal Hollywood establishment has already weighed in. Why hasn’t Forte been cast in a George Clooney movie? They sense that true change comes from the outside looking in. Believe me, I know.