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Betty White: Would she improve the Democratic convention?

Betty White should make a cameo at the Democratic convention, an online petition pleads. After all, Betty White and President Obama already appear to be pals. 

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Cliff Owen/AP/File
Actress Betty White reacts to applause during a ceremony where she was named an Honorary Forest Ranger by the US Forest Service at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Nov. 9, 2010. White has stated in numerous interviews that her first ambition as a young girl was 'to become a forest ranger, but they didn't allow women to do that back then.'

| Charlotte, N.C.

Would Betty White make the Democratic National Convention better? Lots of people think so. Or at least, lots of people who’ve signed Peter Slutsky’s Change.org petition to add Ms. White to the DNC proceedings think so.

Mr. Slutsky says that Clint Eastwood’s rambling, heavily-panned appearance at the Republican National Convention gave a “bad name” to older Americans, and that the former star of “Golden Girls” could restore their honor.

“Governor Romney can have Clint Eastwood and his improvisational skills because President Obama has the only and only Betty White!” writes Slutsky.

At the moment the petition has over 8,000 supporters. Over at Facebook, White is doing even better. A “Bring Betty White to the DNC” page has over 28,000 “likes.”

First off, we’d like to say that it might be time to stop the Eastwood-hating. That was a week ago, which is an era in political time, and in any case there are people who argue that the whole thing was a lot better than the MSM supposes.

There’s this post at the conservative site Hot Air!, for instance, which argues that Eastwood “was not ‘rambling.’ He improvised within a structure, making a clear and concise case for dumping Obama.”

Still, wouldn’t it be great to see Betty White, say, introduce Michelle Obama? Though they’d have to move fast to do that because Mrs. Obama is speaking Tuesday. Maybe she could introduce Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday. That might be even better – can’t you just imagine the on-stage electricity they could generate? She could play off his recent controversial remark about “put y’all back in chains.” No, we won’t elaborate.

Ms. White is up to the job – she’s still working in the sitcom “Hot in Cleveland,” after all – and it looks like she’s a Democrat. She visited Obama in the Oval Office in June. Obama had taped a video that appeared earlier in the year at White’s 90th birthday party. He insisted that she produce her long-form birth certificate to prove her age. Meta!

Other ways White could improve the convention: She could bring an empty chair on stage and pretend to harangue Clint Eastwood. She could put on a headset and get a video crew and roam the halls beaming back spot delegate reports. She could stage a coup at Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” stage in Charlotte and take over his show.

Got your own ideas? Discuss among yourselves in comments.

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