If Obama’s so smart, why the teleprompter addiction? Why “corpseman”? Why does our economy remain still-born after he enjoyed two years of having every piece of legislation he asked for passed and enacted into law?
If Obama’s so compassionate why – after watching his policies fail for the last two-and-a-half years — is he going to request more of the same in yet another nationally televised speech?
Smart people correct their mistakes, and when those mistakes are devastating to others, compassionate people do the same.
Mr. Clooney plays the presidential candidate but told reporters at the festival he is not looking to be one in real life.
“As for running for president, look, there’s a guy in office right now who is smarter than almost anyone you know, who’s nicer and who has more compassion than almost anyone you know. And he’s having an almost impossible time governing. Why would anybody volunteer for that job?” Mr. Clooney told a news conference.
“I have a really good job. I get to hang out with very seductive people. So I have no interest.”
For Mr. Clooney, the film wasn’t so much a political movie as a morality tale, exploring the question of whether the ends justify the means. The political arena “raised the stakes,” a relaxed and jocular Clooney said, but the questions the film poses reside in many areas of life.
“You could literally put this in Wall Street, or you could put it pretty much anywhere,” Mr. Clooney said. “It’s all the same sort of issues. It’s issues of morality. It’s issues of whether or not you are willing to trade your soul for an outcome.”
In the film, many characters use seduction to get what they want: to get closer to power, to undermine the other campaign, to win political backing.
Nothing’s funnier than hearing a George Clooney go out of their way to reassure us they haven’t made a political movie.
What are they afraid of?
