Could Barack Obama win an Emmy?

Stephen Colbert fretted about this on his Comedy Central show Thursday night: Could that liberal Barack Obama -- with a paid ad, no less -- somehow humiliate the mighty Colbert out of another righteous Emmy win?

And if Obama's Wednesday night infomercial was eligible, would it quality for the same cursed outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program category that "The Colbert Report" has lost three years running?

It's an interesting question. The special was certainly high quality. It won raves from critics. And if the American Music Awards can win an Emmy for lighting direction, surely Obama can bring home a statue for getting 33.6 million viewers to watch him hug Ohio voters, right?

But according to a Television Academy spokesman, Colbert is safe.

"I don't have a specific reference in the rules that would make it ineligible," says John Leverence, senior vp awards for the Academy. "But telethons are eligible only if they are not political. Though the ad was not specifically for raising money, it would be close enough to the spirit of that rule to be ineligible."

Even, hypothetically, if the special was eligible, Leverence adds, it would be more appropriate for the nonfiction special category than the outstanding individual performance category.

Colbert, you'll recall, bitterly lost to Barry Manilow for outstanding individual performance in variety or music program in 2006. In 2007, he lost again Tony Bennett. In 2008, he lost to Don Rickles. Colbert and his staff did take home one Emmy, this year, for outstanding writing.

Video clip of the Colbert segment after the jump.

 

 

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