President Obama rode the crest of a wave of celebrity endorsements into the White House. He was feted by many big-name celebrities in Hollywood who were either devout liberals or just wanted more free face time with an adoring public. For his part, the President certainly reveled in the adulation of people who command big salaries for imitating other people. It would seem, oddly, that birds of a feather truly do flock together.
But where are the President's celebrities now?
Alec Baldwin, Robert Redford, Janeane Garofalo, Kerry Washington, Scarlett Johanssen, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Keith Olbermann, Will.I.Am, Katy Perry -- where's all the support for those people who stomped for him on the campaign trail, telling us nattering nabobs what good things the President was going to do for the country? Mind you, this is pure sarcasm, because most of Hollywood has the spine of a rubber band. But the silence from the beautiful and powerful is deafening.
A while back there were reports that Hollywood types were being sought to make PSA's asking those of us who were under- or ill-informed to sign up for Obamacare. Not surprisingly, Hollywood balked. If there's one thing most people in Hollywood understand it's bad press and the effects it can have on a career. And if they don't, their agents do.
Sure, the late night comics are tweaking him, but they almost have to. Even so, they're immune from being attacked. If the IRS were to investigate them, it would signal that the rumors about criticism drawing attacks are true, something the White House resolutely denies. But actors and actresses aren't so immune. Although the IRS might not investigate them, they could be shorted when it came to roles. Invitations to White House dinners could dry up. Photo ops would disappear. Take away the spotlight and where's the celebrity?
The irony is that these people refused to listen. They were so hidebound in their support of the man that they refused to listen. Critics of the President were labeled racists; just ask Garofalo and Redford what critics are. In fact, that very fact may be the reason so many liberal activists are silent: Ed Asner boldly told the media that many in Hollywood were afraid of speaking out against the administration lest they be branded racists. Remember, Mr. Asner is himself a dyed-in-the-wool liberal.
Excuses, explanations, sophistry at its best: No matter how liberals try to paint the spate of troubles visited upon the country by this administration, problems exist because of the decisions made by the President and his administration. What's fair for the goose is fair for the gander: Were this a conservative president, liberals would be screaming bloody murder. How did the cat selectively get their tongues once a liberal president took office?
Celebrities cannot take the good without the bad. Cognitive dissonance from a group that thought itself so superbly informed to the point where it could lecture the hoi polloi about how it should vote just won't cut it. Admittedly, it's not easy standing by a man who lied to the American public and then tried to pass if off as a misunderstanding. Liberals do not have a monopoly on brains: There are plenty of conservatives who not only foresaw the debacle that now exists but heard the President's repeated promises. To claim otherwise now passes no test known to man: Sniff, smell, eyeball or lie detector.
What this portends for the mid-term elections and beyond only time will tell. But for Hollywood supporters of the President, it would be refreshing for one of them to come out and say he or she was wrong, that the President's platform and execution thereof was wrong and that for those reasons he or she can no longer support him.
Frankly, I don't know what's holding them back. They're actors, aren't they?
(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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