The Hollywood Candidate Is Not Obama

If John McCain wins this election, it will be because of Hollywood.

It's not that Hollywood is giving him big money (it isn't); or that big celebrities are attracting attention to him (they're not); or that star writers and directors are helping him with stagecraft and wordsmithery (again no).

It's that the gradual appropriation by Hollywood of politics, journalism and practically ever other domain of modern life is reaching its apotheosis in McCain's campaign. His persona, and the story he is telling, and the media narrative that frames and delivers it to us, all come straight from the movies.

Unfortunately, this movie may end really, really badly.

If you want to see how entertainment conquered reality (as the subtitle of Neal Gabler's "Life the Movie" puts it), don't look at Arnold Schwarzenegger or Ronald Reagan, or at Oprah or Jane Fonda. Look instead at the inauguration day of the era we now inhabit: September 11, 2001.

"It was like something from a movie." It's stunning how universal that reaction was, whether from eye witnesses or television viewers. It is entirely plausible that the terrorists themselves intended us to experience it as a movie -- a disaster film, a horror picture, an epic of spectacular destruction and mass helplessness.

From 9/11 until now, we have lived in a state of suspense, wanting to know how it will all turn out. Are we living through apocalyptic times, heading toward nuclear terrorism and an "On the Beach" ending? Will the anarchy of "Mad Max" be our fate? Will the human monsters who hate us ravage us as mercilessly as the monster of "Cloverfield" or the aliens of "War of the Worlds"? Or will we be rescued by a latter-day cavalry, like the improbable heroes of "Independence Day"?

George W. Bush told us we were in a Western ("Wanted, dead or alive"), and in a World War II movie ("Bring 'em on!"). But the quagmire of Iraq, the persistence of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and the return of Cold War Russia have prevented us from reaching -- except in the President's own mind, perhaps -- the ultimate victory of the white hats and the good guys that those genres promise.

At the moment when things look most bleak, in rides John McCain. Like Rambo, he has returned to rescue us, to make this war on terror end differently than that war in Vietnam. Like Shane, he is a maverick, a loner, a reluctant gunslinger who arrives out of nowhere, back from political death. Like Yoda, or the Wise Man of countless other science fiction films, he offers us wisdom and judgment accumulated over lifetimes.

Only that message didn't work. The hero of the Hanoi Hilton has used his POW history a dozen times too many to explain everything from not recalling how many houses he owns to charges that he cheated his way out of the Saddleback "cone of silence." The maverick who bucked George Bush turned out to vote with him 90 per cent of the time; the loner who denounced the "agents of intolerance" in his own party returned to Liberty University to pay honor to Rev. Falwell; the opponent of torture ended up supporting it; the sage turned out to be a hothead with a hair-trigger temper whose gut instincts are the problem, not the solution.

And then there was his opponent -- the true outsider who made him look like Mr. Establishment, the young guy who made him look too much like Yoda, the leader of millions who made his own claims to leadership ring hollow. Barack Obama, to be sure, has also been the beneficiary of Americans' inclination to experience life via movie genres. In Obama's case, it's the rags-to-riches saga, the only-in-America tale, plus the crusader quests of Gene McCarthy and Martin Luther King, Jr., of Bobby and Jack Kennedy -- stories so burnished by Camelot mythology and an Age of Giants romanticism that the line between legend and life hardly matters.

McCain's Rovian campaign fought genre with genre, trying everything to recast Obama into a different story. They depicted him as a false prophet with literally Mosaic pretensions; a traitorous "Manchurian Candidate"; a demagogue, like Lonesome Roads in "A Face in the Crowd"; a rock star egomaniac, a celebrity airhead, a diva, like the characters in the serial melodramas that we call People, Extra! and TMZ. But for all that, the race remained a dead heat.

In panic, McCain threw a Hail Mary pass -- familiar to fans of sports comeback movies -- and chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. What he gets from this self-described hockey mom is a genre lift, the Hollywood fable of the un-politician who comes to Washington to straighten things out.

She comes from a long line of movie outsiders. Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith starts out as the head of the Boy Rangers. "The Candidate" played by Robert Redford is a lawyer for hopeless causes. Kevin Kline, who impersonates the president (for the better) in "Dave," runs a temp agency. In "The Distinguished Gentleman" (which I wrote and executive produced), Eddie Murphy is a con man who gets elected to Congress, because that's where the legal corrupt money is. In "Man of the Year," Robin Williams is a comedian and radio guy who runs for the White House. Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods, in "Legally Blonde 2," is the underestimated Delta Nu chick who turns Capitol Hill around.

So why not Sarah Palin as Vice President? To be sure, the notion that women, particularly Hillary Clinton supporters, would vote for her just because she has two X chromosomes, and despite her being on the opposite side from Sen. Clinton on every policy issue facing the country: that cynical tokenism is precisely the kind of affirmative-action-at-its-worst that the right never tires of accusing the left of committing.

But McCain isn't betting everything on the hope that self-spiting Clinton partisans and undecided younger suburban women will identify with Sarah Palin's gender. He's doing it to tap into the beloved American movie myth of the salt-of-the-earth outsider who ends up in power. He's gambling that we just can't help loving plots like that.

And what about the heartbeat-away issue? As critic Katha Pollitt wrote, "If life were a Lifetime movie, Palin would do just fine running the country should McCain keel over. Girls can do anything! And look great doing it!"

John McCain is 72, and he's been operated on for malignant melanomas -- the most dangerous kind of skin cancer -- four times.

At this point in the campaign, it looks as though McCain has a 50/50 chance of becoming President. And while I wish him 120 birthdays, it is no great stretch to imagine Sarah Palin ending up in the Oval Office. This is the entirely possible outcome that the Republicans are putting on the table this week.

Maybe Americans won't want to take that risk. But McCain could well win. More Americans may vote to watch the real life movie about the moose-hunting Alaskan beauty queen who goes to Washington, than to see the one about the charismatic half-black Hawaiian who ends up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

If John McCain wins, it is entirely conceivable that whatever scares you most in the world, and whatever you care most about doing at home, Sarah Palin will be in charge of it. But by the time we realize how dystopic such a movie might turn out, it will be too late for any of us to leave the theater.

(This is my column from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, where you can email me if you'd like.)

Follow Marty Kaplan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/martykaplan

Comments

[haljil]

For those of us who do not like the lunatic fringes of either party and chose to support Hillary Clinton - I am not white, old or stupid! - it is both disgusting and demeaning to constantly be trashed by "extremist" Obama supporters on the one hand and be insulted by "blind, deaf and dumb" so-called Hillary supporters on the other who repudiate everything she stands for by supporting the Republican ticket. Such people represent neither the spirit nor the farsightedness that both Obama and Clinton stand for.

I am a proudly registered Independent and looking at the candidates know that there is only one intelligent, patriotic and responsible decision to be made. As someone who works in war and conflict zones, there is no way that I can vote for war-mongering misogynists who have looted our economy with impunity and will probably not be held accountable.

Any thinking person should realize that grave crimes have occurred in the past eight years and if we want our country back on track - we have to vote Obama and Biden!

[wilhelmR]

Rove knows the mentality of the MASSES and saw through the rage and anger of the "old white women" like Gingrich had seen the rage of the "older white men" before. So the author is right that, at the end, reverse psychology will work or more precisely is working because these "old white women" who are very angry will vote for McCain and they don't care if their rage will destroy the world.

[CAPTAINSKIPPY]

What's really sad is that it took George Wallace to state the obvious: there's not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. Sadder still, this truth, like Hollywood, continues.

[mikemaj]

If McCain wins, I am leaving United States to another country. People have no idea what will happen if Republicans are give another 4 years. The country won't be worth living in. Not because it is a bad country, but how could people be so stupid. Other Democratic countries like, UK, India, Israel, Canada, France, etc. throw away non performing party and make a change. Here, a powerful few have a total control on the politics. Obama, if he really cards for the country, will have to change in order to implement change in Washington. His focus at this time should be tough and cunning. No change will come if he continues to be Mr. Nice Guy. You can not keep taking on other cheek.

[Old-Surveyor]

LOL!

[Bobotheclown]

The ancient argument against democracy originated in Athens and goes like this: democracy cannot work because the people are too uneducated and distracted to be allowed the power to control government. Democracies must all end with the chaos of many uncompromising points of view or with the monolithic rubber stamp of a mass enthralled by power.

Thomas Jefferson designed a system that he thought would break this cycle and create the first democracy that could work. He broke the government into 3 competing branches to lessen the threat of imperialism and elevated freedom of the press and public education to the level of absolute rights. He thought that an educated citizenry would forever block the natural quest of power to gain total control.

But recently we have seen an almost total collapse of main stream journalism and our childrens test scores seem to be trailing almost every other industrialized country. Our engineering schools are largely educating foriegn students because our home grown students either can't or won't pass entrance requirements. We seem to have plenty of lawyers but few people with the intelligence to handle the requirements of medicine and science.

The vital brilliance and pragmatism that was the pride of America for the last 200 years has dimmed and the distortion of the political process is only one result. The solution is not about who gets into the WH but about how to restore the essential quality of the American experience that has been lost by this last generation.

[lovethesinner]

Great post, Marty. But, you left one movie out: ALASKALIPS NOW

"the horror... the horror."

[nomorebombs]

diebold decides

voting a farce in the usa

[MidaFo]

This is a good article. The point it makes is long overdue. What it leaves out is the truly nasty part. Those who supplant reality with Hollywood are not fooled. They prefer Hollywood to reality. They and Hollywood know this, which is madness.
The reality is Godzilla is in the White house.

(What follows is an an option because I am not sure Americans are able to face this right now)
It is called the Presidency. Pointing its penile military industrial machine at reality it roars, 'That's Godzilla'. The American media and Hollywood scamper about rubbing this hoary extension and flailing it about to make it produce the seeds of madness everywhere.
This is a serious matter.
America is currently attempting to destroy the world and make its nest in the ruins.

[Janelynne]

Obama needs to have the information you are sharing here. This could be Camelot all over again, with King Arthur trying to push "might for right." We know how that ends. Obama is a good man, but he needs to be a cunning man, if he wants to be in the position to bring change. None of the seats of power want change, and they will fight to the finish to deny him.

[GayTalkExpress]

I commented earlier today that if I'd written this clichéd and hackneyed script, I'd have been laughed out of Hollywood. It's like the screenplay for one of those "Scary Movie" horror genre-spoofs only political. A script based on snippets from every salt-of-the-earth-citizen-goes-to-Washington story ever written . . . on steroids . . . times infinity. The sad part is that it shows so little regard for her family, either the RNC knew the kid was pregnant and are using her to make some "see, they're just like you" point, or they didn't know because she lied. Which is worse or more frightening, I just don't know.

[davidray]

Ok, world here. We are really getting scared now. You are making Robert Mugabe look like Churchill and Kim Yong Ill appear same. Stop. Now. Please.

[peterg76]

Republicans are not as stupid as they pretend to be. I wonder if Palin, and maybe even McCain are decoys, and the actual nominations will be surprises.

[dirtystrat]

I bet she didn't vote "present" as governor of Alaska as often as Obama did. So who has more executive experience?

[ArchibaldWatt]

Nope, just spent a bunch of ill-gotten tax payer money and used her political power to try to get someone she didn't like fired--a big no-no. So, sure, she has executive experience, in the same way a con-artist has 'people skills' and personally, I don't want that kind of experience in the white house anymore; 8 years was quite enough, thank you.

[knighthowl]

About 33% of adult voters.

[LeftRight]

I'll bet that it isn't an issue since she's the GOVERNOR while he's the SENATOR. Therefore there's a voting process in his job, and a signing process in hers. However, when it comes to his campaign, which is the best run in recent memory, he has WAY more experience than she does, since not only is he employing more people than live in her state, but he's ALSO been there more than 90 days per year, which is the limit imposed on AK by it's own constitution!

[tmaster]

You are obviously confused as to what is experience. Being a Senator requires about half the brain power as does a governor. I have worked for both. Senators work an average of 2 days per week with an extended break every holiday. They average approx. 6-10 "Vacations" per year. They have no budgets to create and balance, nor legislatures to work with. They do not have to really ever be in their post, as opposed to a Governor. The duties do not even compare between the two. Vote wrong as a senator and hardly anyone notices, Screw up as gover
nor and everyone knows. Hope this helps !

[jacqmac]

In the Illinois legislature, a 'present' vote is a vote. It is neither a 'yes' or 'no' vote, but it counts. This 'present' is used like an abstention actually. It means that the voter has no STRONG opinion one way or the other, or that the bill in question is flawed in ways that warrant further study. And how many times did John McCain vote AGAINST the very GI's he's supposed to be supporting?

[jackie2]

Oh for heavens sake!-What bothers you so much about Obama voting present?-It is standard procedure in the Illinois state legislature when you don't want to kill a bill, but it needs a tweak, usually to keep it from being unconstitutional, before you can vote for its passage-He voted present around 130 times out of casting over 4,000 votes!!-Please get a grip-Also, McCain never votes present because he's always absent & never even votes-Check his voting record-It's the worst in the senate-And by the way, when an important medicare bill was up recently, Ted Kennedy literally left his hospital bed & traveled to D.C. to vote on that bill-Obama voted on it, too-McCain didn't bother showing up-He didn't show up for the vote on the bill for veteran's benefits, either-He was busy collecting checks for his campaign at a fat cat fundraiser in California instead-The list just goes on & on-Would that he ever actually WAS present to consider voting on the important issues affecting the American people!

[afed27]

Obama has proven he is no outsider. He doesn't admit a mistake, like Bush. He will not issue an apology, like Bush. He misspeaks & constantly has to have his campaign "clarify" his words, like Bush. He claimed he took nothing from lobbyists &, therefore owed nobody. Uh, uh! He took from over 360 bundlers & lobbyists, combined. He has paid back 1 or 2 of them, so far. Let me amend that. WE have paid 1 or 2 of them. Can the country afford to pay them all back? [ McCain had over 400 bundlers/lobbyists.] So, Obama lied, like an insider. He has made promises but now calls them "plans" & we were told that "plans" do not have to honored so, like insider, he bluffs a lot. Where is the change he has promised? Oops, maybe that was a "plan", not a promise.

[jacqmac]

Where are YOUR vetted facts? Obama hasn't taken a DIME from a lobbyist or bundler. Neither has the Democratic Party. And WHO do you think is starting to write the checks for the next thirty days for McCain/Palin? BP and CONOCO to name a couple of those wonderful 'little start ups on the North Slope.'

[Texanna33]

Any hope McCain ever had of getting the support of disappointed Hillary fans is even further out of the realm of possibilty by his choosing Palin for VP. The thing he needs to remember is that the women who support Hillary are thinking women who care about the direction this country is going. They are not looking to go backwards, which is the direction Palin would takes us, on all fronts. Hillary supporters understand that "Legally Blond" was just a movie and not just any woman (or man) can lead the country.

McCain has made a ridiculous choice. If he thinks a female, any female will do he is sadly mistaken and he will find that out in November.