Huffington on Obama
Barack Obama "is young, brilliant, handsome, charismatic...and, yes, Senator Biden, 'clean as a whistle,'" Arianna Huffington wrote yesterday. "But the reason why Hollywood has gone ga-ga for Obama can be summed up in one word: casting. In Hollywood, it's the key to greenlighting a movie; it can make or break one (if you don't believe me, put someone other than Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness and see if it makes over $150 million domestic).
"As much as we may not want to admit it -- as much as we may wish that politics was about policies and the perfect health care plan -- the truth is unavoidable: casting matters. It matters very much. And it's not just a question of finding someone with 'star quality,' a young, handsome leading man to head your ticket (if that were the case, Brad Pitt would be president -- and our first lady a lot more interesting). It's about blending the right candidate with the right role at the right time for our country.
"For a long time now, America has been besotted with the idea of President as Macho Cowboy. Think John Wayne. Or Ronald Reagan epitomizing the John Wayne archetype. The tough-talking, straight-shooting, no-crap-taking role model has captured the public's fancy -- especially in a post-9/11 world.
"It's one of the reasons Bush was able to win reelection despite all the massive failures of his first term. He was seen as a brush-clearing, pick-up-driving, big-belt-buckle-wearing, terrorist-ass-kicking kind of guy. The sort of fellow you could have a beer with, as opposed to John Kerry's equivocating, wind-surfing, Chardonnay-drinking persona.
"But after six years of Bush's all-hat-no-cattle leadership, the American public seems ready to abandon the John Wayne fantasy. The question is: to be replaced by what? A Jimmy Stewart-style Everyman? An honest-as-the-day-is-long Gary Cooper type? A Gregory Peck-does-Atticus Finch moralist?
"With his moral sense of social responsibility and his 'audacity of hope' optimism, Obama may help the country leave behind John Wayne and embrace Atticus Finch. The man and moment may be made for each other."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 5, 2007 at 5:35 PM
comment #1
rocco
says ...
How insightful, how evocative, how...obvious. Seriously Jeff, if Jett handed this paper in to me at Syracuse I'd fail him for plaguerizing his roommates blog and ask him why he's regurgitating 6 month old ideas.
Posted by rocco
at February 5, 2007 6:01 PM
comment #2
americanrat
says ...
Actually, Bush was re-elected because the economy was in great shape and the public admired his action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Bush's re-election is proof positive that in the end, politics matter for very little in America. Voting behavior is basically animal behavior, like birds migrating or lemmings running off a cliff.
All the passion, drama and wasted words count for very little. If the economy is good and people don't think things are falling apart overseas or with their pocketbooks, if there isn't the stink of scandal attached to someone, if there's not a riot outside your window, then the incumbent president or party will usually be re-elected.
Bush won because to most voters there was very little reason not to vote for him.
In 2008, the Democrats will win because the same foreign policy adventures they embraced in 2004 have become tiresome to them. It doesn't really matter who they nominate.
Over the course of the next year, the individual democrats will vote for someone they think is "electable." I suspect that person will be John Edwards, Tom Vilsack or someone who hasn't announced yet. There's rumors that Ed Rendell is about to enter the race.
It's funny how many Democrats - and Republicans - will end up embracing a safe sounding and looking candidate who they probably disagree with on most issues, on the assumption that they are "electable." Again, in 2008 the odds are overwhelming that any Dem is electable and any GOPer is unelectable.
People should vote their consciences on politics because in the end politics don't matter. Successful politicians merely surf waves of public opinion. Bush, Clinton, Reagan - none of them were all that great. They were just in the right place at the right time.
So too Lincoln, FDR, whoever. They were great leaders because we needed great leaders. Anyone would have fit the bill. Cognitive dissonance and all that.
I'm always surprised Wells gets so worked up over this stuff. Politics is ephemeral nonsense. Cinema (art) is eternal.
Posted by americanrat
at February 5, 2007 6:48 PM
comment #3
donnyboy
says ...
As they say in SEC football:
You can't win with a nigger QB.
As they say in Hollywood:
You can't win an Oscar without hack Wells cutting you down for no reason ( E. Murphy)
Posted by donnyboy
at February 5, 2007 7:10 PM
comment #4
Josh Massey
says ...
Uh, Donnyboy - as someone who goes to about 12 SEC football games a year, I have never heard that saying. And as a Georgia fan, I think SEC championship winning QB DJ Shockley would like to have words with you.
Seriously, though - should I mentally prepare myself for at least two Obama-related posts a day?
Posted by Josh Massey
at February 5, 2007 7:38 PM
comment #5
donnyboy
says ...
Georgia Fan on this BLOG shit wonders will never cease (isn't DJ a SW Dekalb project and I mean project!) I caught Wells having taste once.
So I think Richt is biding his time for FSU...what say you?
Posted by donnyboy
at February 5, 2007 7:44 PM
comment #6
jeffmcm
says ...
I don't know if that 7:10 post is appropriate.
Posted by jeffmcm
at February 5, 2007 7:56 PM
comment #7
donnyboy
says ...
Why 7: 56 post?
Because I said:
"As they say in Hollywood"
That could be construed as speaking for you.
I retract.
Carry on. Mr. Proper.
Posted by donnyboy
at February 5, 2007 8:11 PM
comment #8
jeffmcm
says ...
I don't see how the n-word contributed to the content of your statement. Unless you're trying to say that Hollywood, like the SEC, is full of racist idiots.
Posted by jeffmcm
at February 5, 2007 8:21 PM
comment #9
D.Z.
says ...
americanrat: "Actually, Bush was re-elected because the economy was in great shape"
Are you kidding? Job growth has increased to a trickle at best.
"and the public admired his action in Afghanistan and Iraq."
If the public supported his wars, he'd have gotten a mandate, instead of just a slightly higher vote count he was able to rig in a different state.
Posted by D.Z.
at February 5, 2007 8:47 PM
comment #10
americanrat
says ...
jeffmcm -
Like some abusive drunk in a doomed marriage, partisans like you continue to refight battles that were over more than two years ago.
It doesn't matter if you're an unemployed loser or whatever, most people looked at the economy and thought it looked fine. So they voted for the status quo.
It's amazing the breath that is wasted on issues and elections decided years before. Again - emotional, reptile brain behavior. Emotional and pointless.
Trust me, jeffmcm, decision makers and people who actually matter in this country don't think the way you do. They exploit people like you.
You're a pawn.
Posted by americanrat
at February 5, 2007 10:07 PM
comment #11
jeffmcm
says ...
Americanrat: I don't know what you're arguing against. My only comment in this thread was on a completely different topic than the one you're on.
Learn to read.
Posted by jeffmcm
at February 5, 2007 10:56 PM
comment #12
jeffmcm
says ...
(is this Nicol D. using an different name and assuming that I was arguing against him?)
Posted by jeffmcm
at February 5, 2007 10:57 PM
comment #13
James Leer
says ...
You need to go rent a hotel room and work out your Nicol D obsession, friend.
Posted by James Leer
at February 6, 2007 2:58 AM
comment #14
Michael
says ...
Chris Leak won the National Championship this year with Florida. He's black.
Posted by Michael
at February 6, 2007 6:47 AM
comment #15
Mgmax, le Corbeau
says ...
Don't you kind of suspect that any reason that Arianna Huffington thinks a candidate is perfect is a reason to not vote for them?
Posted by Mgmax, le Corbeau
at February 6, 2007 7:53 AM
comment #16
jeffmcm
says ...
James, that would require a gym and a punching bag, not a hotel room.
Posted by jeffmcm
at February 6, 2007 9:43 AM
comment #17
SpinDozer
says ...
It's amazing the breath that is wasted on issues and elections decided years before. Again - emotional, reptile brain behavior. Emotional and pointless.
One might even point to your initial post in which you asserted two highly dubious claims about the election decided years before as a prime example of waste. Was it the emotional reptilian side of your brain or the drunken abusive side that inspired you to write post and then lash out at (the wrong person) when they made a counter observation?
Your overall point is kinda interesting, but I think you underestimate the talents of Mr.Rove in not underestimating the stupidity of Red State morons.
Posted by SpinDozer
at February 6, 2007 10:05 AM