Film critic and cultural historian Neil Gabler has an interesting column on the Presidential race in today’s Los Angeles Times. He concludes:
It is axiomatic that the more powerful the theme a star embodies, the more powerful his or her stardom. Obama’s theme is a potent one. Whether one buys into it or not, he promises to cross divides — political, ideological, racial, geographic — and to transcend the old politics of fear and hate that has commandeered recent elections. He believes that America can — and should — be the moral beacon for the world by returning to its core values. In analyzing his own appeal, Obama says he has become a symbol — which, again, is exactly what all stars are. He is providing a really good, uplifting movie.
Critics, not least of all John McCain, have complained that this is merely windy rhetoric — high-blown but ultimately empty. Eventually, they say, Obama will come back to Earth the way rock stars do when the concert ends.
Critics, not least of all John McCain, have complained that this is merely windy rhetoric — high-blown but ultimately empty. Eventually, they say, Obama will come back to Earth the way rock stars do when the concert ends.
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