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Skriven 2004-12-16 13:40:38 av Alan Hess
Ärende: time to divorce Hollywood, Dems
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Boston.com     

The Boston Globe
SCOT LEHIGH
Dems to Hollywood: The End

By Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist  |  December 15, 2004

AS DISPIRITED Democrats mull various routes back to relevance, here's a quick
and easy first step: Say goodbye to Hollywood.

The attitudes and behavior of the film-industry elite are out of sync with much
of the country, and linking the party with the West Coast glitterati makes
national Democrats suspect with too many voters.

One need look no further than a recent New York Times survey to see the
disconnect. Fully 70 percent of those polled said they were at least somewhat
concerned that TV, movies, and popular music are lowering moral standards.

Beyond that, the self-absorption of Hollywood stars and producers makes them
off-putting campaign props who too often distract from a candidate's intended
message.

Indeed, watching Howard Dean campaign around unpretentious Iowa with Martin
Sheen and Rob Reiner in tow in the days before the caucuses, one could sense
that the former Vermont governor had lost his way. Sheen, who in particular
seemed to believe the campaign's events were really about him, would recite a
poem by Indian Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, fairly radiating
self-satisfaction as he built to a crescendo. He and Dean would share a few
jokes built around the oh-so-clever premise that because Sheen played the
president on "West Wing," it was witty to call him Mr. President -- and wittier
still to have him refer to Dean that way.

It was a wearisome act that only served to undercut the blunt, unvarnished
Vermont authenticity that had been one of Dean's principal attractions in the
early days of his effort.

Fast forward to left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore, whose real emergence on the
campaign trail began as a supporter of General Wesley Clark. (It apparently
didn't occur to Clark that it might seem incongruous having a figure who had
denounced the American-led NATO intervention in Kosovo -- one who labeled Bill
Clinton "a sad, pathetic," "ruthless," and "cowardly" president who lied to
justify military force there -- endorse the general who had led that effort.)

Moore soon plunged Clark into controversy by calling George W. Bush a
"deserter," thereby wrapping legitimate questions about whether Bush had
fulfilled his Texas Air National Guard obligation in the overheated rhetoric of
Bush hatred.

The avidity with which some prominent Democrats later embraced Moore's
"Fahrenheit 9/11" -- a film whose thought-provoking antiwar message was cloaked
in cockamamie conspiracy theories and drenched with disdain for Bush --
reflected their misreading of the country's anxious, uncertain mood. The image
of Moore ensconced in former President Jimmy Carter's box at the Democratic
National Convention showed that that mentality had infected even the highest
reaches of the party.

For my money, only one star truly lent any campaign credibility. That was
Michael J. Fox, who joined John Kerry on the husting to speak about the need
for more stem-cell research. Listening to Fox's slurred speech and seeing the
tremors he suffers from Parkinson's disease, one couldn't help but be moved. It
wasn't so much Fox's fame that lent power to his words, however, as his
condition.

Other stars may have helped Kerry raise money, but they also served to
embarrass him, putting their unbridled contempt for Bush on proud display
during a July fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall. Whoopi Goldberg indulged in
a long riff that used the name Bush as a sexual pun. Chevy Chase belittled
Bush's intelligence and mocked his pronunciation of "terrorist" and "nuclear."
(Didn't Jimmy Carter mispronounce the latter word too?) John Mellencamp sang a
song that called Bush a "cheap thug who sacrifices our young." And so it went.
Kerry then made the mistake of saying that the stars had conveyed to the
audience "the heart and soul of our country." His campaign was soon on the
defensive, left to assert the performers' right to express their opinions,
while stipulating they did not necessarily reflect Kerry's views.

Now, the celebrities' contempt may well mirror the sentiment of confirmed
Democrats. But it was hardly the way to win undecided votes. Or to offer an
effective critique of a president voters are inclined to like personally, but
whose policies have left us entangled in an unnecessary war and awash in red
ink. In the same way, post-election polemics that denounce Bush supporters as
simple-minded rubes are unlikely to persuade them to consider Democratic
candidates in future elections.

The sooner the Democrats come to realize those points, the better their future
prospects will be.

Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com. 
+ Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
 

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