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The Oscars, Obama And The Golden Globes: Predicting The Presidency By Stacking Up Award Show Results

First Posted: 03/ 1/2012 5:02 pm Updated: 03/ 1/2012 5:17 pm

This just in: President Obama will be re-elected president in 2012.

At least, that's what the newly discovered Academy Awards/Golden Globes Rule suggests.

With only two exceptions over the past 50 years, a Democrat has won the White House when the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and the Oscar for Best Picture have not gone to the same film. When the same picture takes both honors, a Republican wins.

This year, "The Descendants" won Best Motion Picture (Drama) at the Globes, and "The Artist" won Oscar's Best Picture. (Full disclosure: "The Artist" also won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical).)

CNN's OutFront blog spotted the pattern (and yes, even they float the question of whether or not they have too much time on their hands), and the details are pretty intriguing. Of the two times the rule failed to hold true, one can be somewhat easily explained away:

In 1976, when "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" won both awards, things went crazy, and Gerald Ford failed to win.

But as Ford was never actually elected as president or vice president in the first place, there is an argument to be made he was never a true incumbent.

The other, CNN notes, was when the filmic adaptation of Steinbeck's "East of Eden" won the Golden Globe but failed to capture the Oscar. Steinbeck himself was fiercely political and published a long memo outlining a plan that he hoped would keep Eisenhower from a second term.

Every other election cycle, the award shows have "predicted" the party of the next president. Reagan won his second term the year that "Terms of Endearment" won both honors, and Bill Clinton won in 1996 when "Braveheart" and "Sense and Sensibility" split the statuettes.

This news, if you can call it that, comes amid signs that Hollywood isn't as Obama-mad as it used to be. Four years after the likes of Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and Halle Berry effusively praised the "Yes We Can" candidate, the relationship appears to have cooled considerably.

Stars including Matt Damon have sharply criticized the president, and early returns indicate that donations to Democrats from those in the industry are millions lower than they were at this point last election cycle.

What do you make of this little prediction game? It's hokey, to be sure. But then again, stranger predictions have come true.

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This just in: President Obama will be re-elected president in 2012. At least, that's what the newly discovered Academy Awards/Golden Globes Rule suggests. With only two exceptions over the past ...
This just in: President Obama will be re-elected president in 2012. At least, that's what the newly discovered Academy Awards/Golden Globes Rule suggests. With only two exceptions over the past ...
Filed by Kia Makarechi  | 
 
 
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06:27 PM on 03/05/2012
The only thing you can predict from award shows is that the most anti-Americans always win. This is no indication of the elections results except in the frevid imagination of the far left that includes most celebrities. Look at the hate mongering that goes on in all the left's political films. Margret Thatcher victimized, Sarah Palin slandered, etc. It's no wonder most are box office bombs.
01:12 PM on 03/04/2012
We better pray to God that man doesn't get re-elected. He was not experienced enough to be the Prez and has done everything he said he wouldn't. He also said, "If the economy isn't fixed....I'll be a one term president." It's not, now say good-bye.
Get all the nanny care issues out of Congress and let the American people think for themselves instead of invading our wallets and our bodies.
Read up on Ancient Rome and the Chinese Dynasties and see how History is repeating itself.
Dangerous.
11:48 AM on 03/04/2012
intellectuals used to be one out of a hundred,now its one out of ten million
11:44 AM on 03/04/2012
GET this antiamerican president out of the white house and out of the country and take his supporters with him!
08:28 AM on 04/13/2012
How about you get your a** out of america if he wins and go back to your cave in europe. That would be much better.
07:02 PM on 03/03/2012
Wow now I understand Liberal thinking. Since Octavia Spencer won a
award for playing a maid who took a dump in a pie logically......Obama
wins another term. Is Billy Crystal's black face a good or bad sign for
Barack Hussein Obama ???
Karma2U
Blessed are the Peacemakers
02:48 PM on 03/03/2012
Obama will win when all the fair minded majority of Americans get out to vote on 11-6-12.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
BocaMom
10:07 AM on 03/03/2012
Talk about a ridiculous story. Can you not focus on lowering the price of gasoline, getting 25 million Americans back work and turning around the economy so we can lower our $15 trillion national debt.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
softvoice
keep your eye on the prize
03:21 PM on 03/03/2012
Do you really think those issues are not being worked on. If you want gasoline to go down, then demand that the oil speculators stop playing with the American peoples pocketbook. If you want more people to be put back to work, then tell the Republicans in congress to stop filibustering everything that will help the economy. If you want to reduce the national debt, then support ending the tax breaks for the richest Americans and support ending the billions of dollars in subsidies that the oil industry gets. Those would be good steps in the right direction, if you really want more improvement.
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askandtell
Proud Minnesotan; Inspired by Paul Wellstone
11:54 PM on 03/04/2012
Excellent post; f&f.
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Helena Williamstom
09:41 AM on 03/03/2012
I'm sure he will win. However I have very little faith in the Academy Awards/Golden Globes Rule. The GOP are simply devouring each other.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ethelmertzrules
Whip me, beat me, make me write bad checks
09:40 AM on 03/03/2012
My cat thinks a 3rd party will take it this time around.
08:18 AM on 03/03/2012
What, they haven't found a squid that can predict election results yet?
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11:56 PM on 03/02/2012
Now THAT'S entertainment - not.
10:25 PM on 03/02/2012
Why would we hand the controls back to people who destroyed our country to begin with. Republicans are incompetent. And keep on proving it..
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stape45
Spin this!
02:51 AM on 03/03/2012
But millions of (GOP) voters are ill-informed, misinformed or uninformed. And they keep-on proving it too.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Buck Winthrop
Pulp-fiction novelist, publicist, pop culturist.
06:48 PM on 03/02/2012
The Artist DID when both the Golden Globe and The Oscar...This theory is really silly. But, yes, Obama will win. The Republican Party has become like a SNL skit with the likes of Sarah Palin and now Mitt Romney. Laughable.
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sf girl
I like my micro-bio empty.
10:56 PM on 03/02/2012
The distinction is drama vs. comedy or musical.
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Kathy Dukes
01:23 PM on 03/03/2012
You did not read the article correctly - It clearly says Best Motion Picture DRAMA.
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Buck Winthrop
Pulp-fiction novelist, publicist, pop culturist.
03:19 PM on 03/03/2012
I read it perfectly well, thank you.
06:29 PM on 03/02/2012
I remember watching Meryl and Rosanne bar in the most underrated She Devil. I think Streep tried mainstreaming her comedy in things like that movie she did with Goldy Hawn and Isabella Rossellina and Catherine Bell. Her comedy was fantastic.
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Margo Arrowsmith
Elizabeth Warren in 2016!
06:32 AM on 03/03/2012
You are fanned for liking She Devil!    But I can't figure out what the other one is.
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Helena Williamstom
09:42 AM on 03/03/2012
I love She Devil. It was hilarious
03:49 PM on 03/07/2012
Hello. That other film was called Death Becomes Her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Becomes_Her
04:16 PM on 03/02/2012
You've got to be kidding. They are basing an election based on the Golden Globes. This country is in dire trouble and this is what they think of election a president. No wonder we are in such trouble. This liberal media needs to take a reality pill BIG TIME.
05:53 PM on 03/02/2012
The article recounts the statistical probabilities based on a fifty year sample. It also notes two exceptions. There are similar predictors based on candidates height, name length, and a myriad of other anomalies. You seem to be the one that needs to relax, and work on your reading comprehension. There will still be an election in November...I promise.
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Timur Graham
Defender of facts and truth.
08:25 PM on 03/02/2012
You need a chill pill dude...