O'Neil's Clooney rationale

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I love that the last-minute Oscar situation seems fluid and uncertain enough for odd and unlikely predictions to be advanced by serious people. One example of this is The Envelope's Tom O'Neil predicting a George Clooney Best Actor win for his performance in Michael Clayton. It won't happen but I love flirting with the possibility. Any Oscar win that surprises or freaks people out is "good" in my book.

Boiled down, O'Neil is making the Clooney call because, like me, he's impressed with the pro-Clayton, pro-Swinton, pro-Clooney sentiments voice by Real Geezer commentators Marcia Nasatir and Lorenzo Semple, Jr., who've become the most distinctive (influential?) voices in the Oscar-prognosticator community of late. I love these guys. They're a window into the thinking of Hollywood's over-the-hill gang.

O'Neil isn't saying Clooney deserves the Oscar more than There Will be Blood's Daniel Day Lewis. He's simply saying that the "yuts" like Clooney more because they love his clubhouse smoothie aura, and that's that. They don't care about the rest.