The campaign continues to become the nation's next Comedian-in-Chief

Blame Richard Nixon for establishing the wacky notion that politicians advance their electoral and policy prospects by becoming comedians. Hillary Clinton continued the Nixon strategy recently with her latest appearance on a late-night comedy show. In today's pop-culture-obsessed world, anybody who wants to become Commander-in-Chief must demonstrate the ability to also be Comedian-in-Chief.

Nixon was running for president in 1968 in a close race against Hubert Humphrey. Nixon delivered only one line on NBC's€rowdy "Laugh-In"€sketch comedy show. But when Nixon uttered his trendy line, "Sock it to me?," the course of political rhetoric changed forever. Some analysts later claimed the buttoned-down Nixon helped his election chances by going on a comedy show and reaching a younger demographic.

Interestingly, Dwight Eisenhower presented a brief, pre-recorded message in 1955 on television's€"Colgate Comedy Hour." Ike's remarks, however, only acknowledged Armed Forces Week at the beginning of the show that was broadcast from an Air Force base. A comedian Ike was not.

Hillary's appearance with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel amounted to a 30-minute political commercial with Kimmel lobbing softballs that set up Hillary's talking points. She talked about grandkids and delivered one-liners. She opened a jar of pickles in a staged stunt to demonstrate how healthy she is. Hillary's email problem was laughed off as she declared, "My emails are so boring"¯

Kimmel neglected to point out that Hillar's emails aren't so boring to the FBI, Benghazi families or national security operatives. Nobody will confuse Kimmel with Edward R. Murrow.

Incidentally, the Federal Communications Commission equal time rules don't apply to late-night comedy programs because the FCC has determined such shows are legitimate journalistic interview programs. You know, kind of like "Face the Nation."€

But don't worry about Trump. He can get on a comedy show whenever he wants. He was on Kimmel's show and "Saturday Night Live" during the primary season.

Republicans and Democrats alike want to show their comedic flair. Surprisingly, John McCain appeared on more late-night comedy shows in the 2008 election year than Barack Obama. While president, Obama has become master of the pop-culture television circuit, appearing often as the cool guy on late-night shows and other soft venues, such as "Ellen," "The View" and the offbeat, Web-based "Between Two Ferns."¯

It is little wonder politicians love these pandering environments. Sitting in an orchestrated comedy setting with cooperative hosts who have no journalistic credentials sure beats taking hard questions on a Sunday morning public affairs show or actual press conference. It allows candidates to reach impressionable voters who might not follow foreign or economic policy, but can still pull the voting lever for a personality who can best deliver a funny line. Various studies show that one-sixth of Americans say they get political news from these comedy shows.

It's hard to blame politicians for scrounging votes wherever they can be found. A notorious bank robber who was asked why he robbed banks responded simply by saying that's where the money was. Likewise, politicians go on comedy shows because that's where voters are.

The real fault for pop-culturizing politicians lies with media corporations that are more concerned about ratings and branding than with maintaining any sense of dignity for the political system or government leaders. ABC reaped tremendous exposure from Hillary's pickle jar event as virtually every news outlet churned the antics into "news" stories.

Media executives with backbone should insist that candidates for the nation's highest office are welcome only on news shows with journalists asking the questions. Candidates can still be humanized with Lester Holt or David Muir asking questions, without laugh tracks and hooting audiences.

In today's celebrity culture, it is little wonder there is blurring of political and entertainment imagery, but the resulting optics just aren't good at times. President Obama went on Jimmy Fallon's NBC show in June to "slow jam"€the news in a comedy skit. A couple of days later, the president was giving a speech about the Orlando mass shootings. The White House worries about rhetorical descriptions of ISIS upsetting the terrorists's sensitivities, but the Fallon "slow jam" included double-entendre jokes about the president, no doubt confirming terrorist anger about the values of Western culture.

It is time for politicians to just be politicians. They have enough to do fixing the country. That would make citizens happy enough.

Jeffrey M. McCall is a professor of communication at DePauw University and author of "Viewer Discretion Advised: Taking Control of Mass Media Influences." Contact him at jeffmccall@depauw.edu. On Twitter: @Prof_McCall.