There is nothing that says that a voter must continue to support a candidate for whom he voted no matter what. There are plenty of voters who have been disabused of the error of their ways when the rubber met the road, both liberal and conservative. It even happens with Supreme Court Justices: Earl Warren famously surprised Dwight Eisenhower by turning out to be more liberal than anyone would have believed possible when Ike nominated him to the Chief Justice position. In politics, on any level, it's possible for a leopard to change its spots.
Even so, the gnashing of teeth, the rending of garments and the pulling of hair among the Hollywood elite is fascinating, if not downright entertaining. What pushed me to this post was the recent emergence of Charlie Sheen, poet. He just sent out a poem taking the President to task for not providing armed guards at schools and lashing out at Obamacare, albeit obliquely.
Mr. Sheen is just the latest self-assured celebrity to criticize, grudingly, the President whom he supported ardently in two separate elections. That Mr. Sheen is late to the party should not be held against him; compared to some of his guild members, he's positively early.
Ed Asner has the gumption to say out loud what many in Hollywood wouldn't:
A lot of people don't want to feel anti-black by being opposed to Obama.
Barbara Walters joined the bandwagon a few months after Mr. Asner's comment:
We all thought he was going to be...the next messiah.
Of course, after having heard Jamie Foxx describe the President as our Lord and Savior, Ms. Walters' comments aren't as laughable as they might seem.
In a way, seeing all these supporters express their disappointment is hilarious. These same people -- not necessarily the aforementioned celebrities, but certainly some of their peers -- were insistent that those of us who opposed Mr. Obama were wrong, deluded, biased and even racist. There wasn't a chance we were looking critically at the President's policies and rhetoric and --gasp! -- making our minds up for ourselves instead of listening to the self-appointed spokespeople and simply take their word for it. It was almost as if they were friends of the most popular person in school who was running for student body president and to oppose him would result in public shunning.
How the tables have turned.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...or a celebrity disappointed. Sure, there are hardcore supporters like Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin and that nutjob Melissa Harris-Perry who, despite the fact she blindly continues to stump for the President doesn't have a clue how to pronounce correctly Semper Fi. But hey, even Goebbels stuck by his buddy until the end. The last two elections had nothing to do with electing the most qualified candidate but electing the most popular candidate. And the President did his part, providing an electable minority candidate who spoke well (as opposed to rhyming his way through the campaign like Jesse Jackson), was educated well and presented a wholesome image with some youthful missteps in his past that many in the electorate could share with him.
But now, the cool kids are disillusioned because the promises in which they put so much trust have turned out to be illusory. Attempts to blame the uncool kids, also known as the Republicans, have met with little success because, thanks to the cool kids' own efforts in supporting the President, his visibility is so great that it magnified his errors. Now, the cool kids are in danger of being held complicit and they don't like it.
There are some notable critics within the cool kids camp. Matt Damon, just smart enough to get himself in trouble with his double standards, has distanced himself publicly from the President. Robert Deniro is trying to walk a fine line between criticism and acknowledgement. Jane Lynch is angry at him, Barbra Streisand is disappointed.
Lost in all this is any acknowledgement that perhaps Mitt Romney was in fact better qualified. I think that in 2008, it was the lesser of two evils. I wouldn't vote for John McCain if he was the only candidate; he's the Republican version of Dick Durbin, doing or saying anything that's politically expedient. His service for this country doesn't necessarily qualify him for the White House. Mr. Romney is a good man. One can disagree with him but he can't criticize him for being unkind, uncaring and unintelligent. In that, he's at least the President's equal. He also has more experience for the Presidency than the President did when he was first elected. The President's first term should have been an indictment, not an endorsement, for a second term.
Well, the sheep's clothing has come off and the President is being revealed for what he truly is. Hollywood is aghast, shocked, to see that their champion isn't descended from Mount Olympus. Taking up Mr. Asner's candor, they're at a loss how to criticize the President and still qualify for their ultra-liberal union card. To put it bluntly, the President has underperformed. Some say he's lied. Others say he should be impeached. But in no way, contrary to Mr. Foxx's suggestion, should we be equating the President with the likes of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.
There's no shame in that, actually. Few presidents have ever measured up. But liberals should take note of what happened to their now-tarnished icon, John F. Kennedy. As historians dig deeper and reveal more about the charismatic president assassinated in the middle of his term, warts appear, stories take their true shape, illusions are blown away as if they were mist. That it's happening to the President during his second term is unfortunate for him, but more unfortunate for his supporters.
At least with President Kennedy, many of his most ardent supporters are dead and can't hear the criticism. This President's supporters are very much alive and likely to remain so for a couple of decades more. Historians, as is their wont, will do to him what they've done to Mr. Kennedy. When that happens and more unseemly material is published, the President will no longer justify all those lofty accolades heaped upon him as if he were an Olympic champion.
They may find out, instead, that he's nothing like the man they touted to the general public.
And by then, the President's political career will have ended. He'll write books, open a museum, tour the world, sit on highfalutin boards and earn gobs of money doing it.
The celebrities will have their support thrown in their faces at every opportunity, like Hanoi Jane still hears about her support for the North Vietnamese in 1970.
To paraphrase Shakespeare -- and yes, that's intentional -- uneasy sits the mouth that supported vigorously but stupidly the wrong candidate.
(c) 2014 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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