“I’m gonna say something really important, but really quick. I’m not gonna preach to you, but we need something really special this year,” hip-hop artist Jay-Z says to a cheering crowd in a new “Vote Again 2010” public service announcement.

The announcement encourages young voters to hit the polls again this year and be the force of change they were in the 2008 elections. His message does not endorse a particular candidate or party agenda, but it does raise the question of what role celebrities should play when it comes to politics.

In 2008, a more partisan music video, “Yes We Can,” featured more than 30 celebrities endorsing Obama’s campaign, including Kanye West, John Legend, Common and Scarlett Johansson.

We’ve also seen George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, John Voight, Barbara Streisand, Oprah Winfrey and Clint Eastwood vocalize their own political views over the years (for and against both parties).

Celebrities have the same right as anyone to voice their opinions and support a particular candidate or party. The problem, however, is they tend to attract quite a bit more attention when they speak from the red carpet than an office worker does when he debates in the lunchroom with his co-workers.

More than that, there is a tendency to receive celebrities as greater authorities when it comes to opinions and political endorsements – even though they are often no more informed than the average citizen.

After all, being a celebrity doesn’t translate into keen political insight. Playing the role of a political figure in a film doesn’t make an actor any more an expert on politics than wearing an Armani suit makes the President an expert on fashion.

Beyond that, politics are outside most celebrities’ areas of expertise. If we would hesitate to consider Condoleezza Rice an authority on the latest fashion, we should also be reluctant to make George Clooney an authority on the latest political issue.

This isn’t to dismiss celebrities as ignorant or incapable of making thoughtful, educated decisions. Ronald Reagan, after all, went from Hollywood to a successful presidency, Schwarzenegger went on to a governorship, and we should also remember that many celebrities have used their influence to campaign for issues like ending the Darfur crisis, supporting Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake, and furthering other humanitarian causes.

But when it comes to choosing the next president, it just doesn’t make sense to look to celebrities any more (or any less) than we would someone else. We might also be more wary of the opinions of someone sitting in the back of a limousine and watching elections from a house in Malibu or a loft in New York City, since we just have to wonder how much they can even relate to pressing social issues and national concerns for the average citizen.

Fortunately, a recent study by North Carolina State University titled, “Seeing Stars: are young voters influenced by celebrity endorsements of candidates?”, suggests the impact of celebrity endorsements is probably quite minimal. At the same time, it says, their influence is still worth noting.

So with this year’s election recently concluded, we’ll just have to wait for the tally to see how many young voters hit the polls. While a large number would be a good thing, a 30-second Jay-Z announcement will hopefully have had little to do with it – since Washington, D.C. and Hollywood are rightly situated on opposite coasts.