A long time ago, when Rahm Emanuel was still working for President Obama, I wrote a post saying that Emanuel should be fired, and Aaron Sorkin hired in his place. If you ever watched The West Wing or The American President, you'll know why I say that. Now, maybe you can't compare fictional White Houses to the real one. But what if one of the characters from the fictional TV White House could converse with the real Obama? What might Obama learn?
The article is immensely well written, and I of course read the Bartlett parts in Martin Sheen's voice. How could you not?
[Excerpt] Two Presidents, Smoking and Scheming
The lights from the presidential motorcade illuminate a New Hampshire farmhouse at night in the sprawling New England landscape. JED BARTLET steps out onto his porch as the motorcade slows to a stop.
BARTLET (calling out) Don’t even get out of the car!
BARACK OBAMA (opening the door of his limo) Five minutes, that’s all I want.
BARTLET Were you sleepy?
OBAMA Jed —
BARTLET Was that the problem? Had you just taken allergy medication? General anesthesia?. . .
This scene, from the pilot episode of The Newsroom, shows a fictional cable news anchor asked the "tough" question, "Why is America the greatest country in the world." His eventual answer when pressed is classic Aaron Sorkin, and wonderfully performed by Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy. The show itself has seen a barrage of criticism, but I have to say I'm liking it. It is heavy-handed at time, but as the dialog of the show points out, you have to speak truth to stupid sometimes.
And I for one do not find this speech in anyway un-patriotic. I think "American exceptionalism" is a perfectly laudable goal, but it is not a given. I think true patriots want to make America better, not proclaim it to be #1 in areas where it is empirically not. That doesn't mean that I don't have a swell of patriotism when July 4th rolls around, and it doesn't mean I don't love my country. It makes me a realist.
Here's another quickie post while I manage my recovery. I love Aaron Sorkin's writing, and continue to be impressed by the man himself. I suggested here on the blog that President Obama ditch some of his "insider" advisers, and bring on Sorkin, as a speech writer if nothing else.
[Excerpt]
In Her Defense, I'm Sure the Moose Had It Coming
"Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather chair or eaten meat, save your condemnation."
You're right, Sarah, we'll all just go f*ck ourselves now.
The snotty quote was posted by Sarah Palin on (like all the great frontier women who've come before her) her Facebook page to respond to the criticism she knew and hoped would be coming after she hunted, killed and carved up a Caribou during a segment of her truly awful reality show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, broadcast on The-Now-Hilariously-Titled Learning Channel. . .
I've said in the past that the White House should hire Aaron Sorkin as--if nothing else--a speech writer for President Barack Obama. Obama needs a "President Andrew Shepherd" or "President Jed Bartlett" moment now more than ever. ABC's Nightline ran a profile of Sorkin on the eve of his Facebook movie, The Social Network's release. In it, I'm more convinced than ever that Democrats should tap this man's brain. His comments on Sarah Palin, and the rest of the GOP clown car are spot on.
President Obama gave a barn burner of a speech on Wednesday, and it's about time. Where has this guy been? To paraphrase The West Wing, it's long past time to "let Obama be Obama." Oh, and maybe to hire Aaron Sorkin? Just sayin'. . .
UPDATE: The official video clip has been added here.
Wow. Okay, I'm not naive enough to think that Rachel Maddow will be our first openly gay, first female President (oh, but to dream), but I hope President Obama and/or his staff watched Wednesday night's show. Because if Obama had given this speech last night, the left would be still standing in thunderous applause, and the right. . .well, they'd be squawking, but they do that anyway. This is sort of what I was saying a couple of months ago when I said that Obama should fire Rahm Emanuel and hire Aaron Sorkin. This was a Sorkinesque speech, this was words and action.
I was underwhelmed by Obama's speech--not angered, just disappointed--but I honestly didn't know what I wanted him to say. That was my biggest problem with the outpouring of criticism from the left: what the heck did you want him to say? After watching Rachel's fake address, now I know. I hope they're paying attention.
Here is a link to another blog's take on Rachel's speech. I'll post a video as soon as it becomes available.
[Excerpt]
Fake President Maddow NAILS it.
I saw posts here all day asking me what I wanted to hear from the President last night.
I have an answer for you right now:
I wanted to hear exactly what Rachel Maddow said tonight.
NOT ONE WORD DIFFERENT.
She was magnificent. I cheered her the way I wanted to cheer the President last night. . .
While I wouldn't exactly call myself a Michael Moore fan, I have enjoyed his movies. Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11 were particularly good. And I love the fact that he sends right-wing world right off its axis. Moore doesn't hold half the power they think he does, but he's up on the right wing's rogues gallery, right after George Soros, Barbra Streisand and Keith Olbermann.
A while back, I wrote a post suggesting that Rahm Emanuel be replaced with The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin. I still think this is a good idea. Michael Moore has his own suggestion: himself. It ain't half bad. Though it is kind of incongruous to picture Moore as a workout fanatic!
[From email]
President Obama: Replace Rahm with Me ...an open letter from Michael Moore
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Dear President Obama,
I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff.
I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement.
I will come to D.C. and clean up the mess that's been created around you. I will work for $1 a year. I will help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp.
And I will help you get done what the American people sent you there to do. I don't need much, just a cot in the White House basement will do.
Now, don't get too giddy with excitement over my offer, because you and I are going to be up at 5 in the morning, 7 days a week and I am going to get you pumped up for battle every single day (see photo). Each morning you and I will do 100 jumping jacks and you will repeat after me:
"THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED ME, NOT THE REPUBLICANS, TO RUN THE COUNTRY! I AM IN CHARGE! I WILL ORDER ALL OBSTRUCTIONISTS OUTTA MY WAY! IF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T LIKE WHAT I'M DOING THEY CAN THROW MY ASS OUT IN 2012. IN THE MEANTIME, I CALL THE SHOTS ON THEIR BEHALF! NOW, CONGRESS, DROP AND GIVE ME 50!!"
Then we will put on our jogging sweats and run up to Capitol Hill. We will take names, kick butts, and then take some more names. If we have to give a few noogies or half-nelson's, then so be it. In our pockets we will have a piece of paper to show the pansy Dems just how much they won by in 2008 -- and the poll results that show the majority of Americans oppose the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and want the bankers punished. Like drill sergeants, we will get right up in their faces and ask them, "WHAT PART OF THE PUBLIC MANDATE DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, SOLDIER?!! DROP AND GIVE ME 50!"
I know this is the job Rahm Emanuel was supposed to be doing.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have always admired Rahm Emanuel (if you don't count his getting NAFTA pushed through Congress in the '90s which destroyed towns like Flint, Michigan. I know, picky-picky.). He is what we needed for a long time -- a no-apologies, take-no-prisoners fighting machine. Someone who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and pound the right wing into submission. Far from being the foul-mouthed bully he has been portrayed as, Rahm is the one who BEAT UP the bullies to protect us from them.
That's certainly what he did in 2006. After six long, miserable years of the middle-class getting slaughtered and the poor being flushed down the toilet, Rahm Emanuel took on the job of returning Congress to the Democrats. No one believed it could be done.
But he did it. Big time. He put the fear of God into the party of Rush and Newt. They had never been so scared. More importantly, though, he instilled a sense of hope in the Democrats that they could actually score the mother of all hat tricks in 2008 -- and with you, an African American no less, in the pole position!
It worked. The Darkness ended. The vast majority of nation wept with joy on the night of the election (those who weren't weeping went out and bought a record number of guns and ammo). Unlike the last president, you didn't "win" by 537 votes in Florida (although Gore won the popular vote by a half-million), you beat McCain nationally by 9,522,083 votes! The House Democrats got a walloping 79-vote margin. The Senate Dems would caucus with a supermajority of 60 votes unheard of in over 30 years. The wars would now end. America would have universal health care. Wall Street and the banks would, at the very least, be reined in. Hardworking citizens would not be thrown out of their homes. It was supposed to be the dawning of a new age.
But the Republicans were not going to go quietly into the night. You see, instead of having just one Rahm Emanuel, they are ALL Rahm Emanuels. That's why they usually win. Unlike most Democrats, they are relentless and unstoppable. When they believe in something (which is usually themselves and the K Street job they hope to be rewarded with someday), they'll fight for it till the death. They are loyal to a fault to each other (they were never able to denounce Bush, even though they knew he was destroying the party). They dig their heels in deep no matter what. If you exiled them to a lone chunk of melting polar ice cap, they would keep insisting that it was just a normal "January thaw," even as the frigid Arctic waters rose above their God-fearing necks ("See what I mean -- this water is COLD! What 'global *warming*'?! Adam and Eve rode dinos...aagghh!!... gulp gulp gulp").
We thought we were all done with this craziness, but we were mistaken. Like a beast that you just can't cage, the Republicans convinced not only the media, but YOU and your fellow Dems, that 59 votes was a *minority*! Precious time was lost trying to reach a "consensus" and trying to be "bipartisan."
Well, you and the Democrats have been in charge now for over a year and not one banking regulation has been reinstated. We don't have universal health care. The war in Afghanistan has escalated. And tens of thousands of Americans continue to lose their jobs and be thrown out of their homes. For most of us, it's just simply no longer good enough that Bush is gone. Woo hoo. Bush is gone. Yippee. That hasn't created one new friggin' job.
You're such a good guy, Mr. President. You came to Washington with your hand extended to the Republicans and they just chopped it off. You wanted to be respectful and they decided that they were going to say "no" to everything you suggested. Yet, you kept on saying you still believed in bipartisanship.
Well, if you really want bipartisanship, just go ahead and let the Republicans win in November. Then you'll get all the bipartisanship you want.
Let me be clear about one thing: The Democrats on Election Day 2010 are going to get an ass-whoopin' of biblical proportions if things don't change right now. And after the new Republican majority takes over, they, along with a few conservative Democrats in Congress, will get to bipartisanly impeach you for being a socialist and a citizen of Kenya. How nice to see both sides of the aisle working together again!
And the brief window we had to fix this country will be gone.
Gone.
Gone, baby, gone.
I don't know what your team has been up to, but they haven't served you well. And Rahm, poor Rahm, has turned into a fighter -- not of Republicans, but of the left. He called those of us who want universal health care "f***ing retarded." Look, I don't know if Rahm is the problem or if it's Gibbs or Axelrod or any of the other great people we owe a debt of thanks to for getting you elected. All I know is that whatever is fueling your White House it's now running on fumes. Time to shake things up! Time to bring me in to get you pumped up every morning! Go Barack! Yay Obama! Fight, Team, Fight!
I'm packed and ready to come to D.C. tomorrow. If it helps, you won't really be losing Rahm entirely because I'll be bringing his brother with me -- my agent, Ari Emanuel. Man, you should see HIM negotiate a deal! Have you ever wanted to see Mitch McConnell walking around Capitol Hill carrying his own head in his hands after it's just been handed to him by the infamous Ari? Oh, baby, it won't be pretty -- but boy will it be sweet!
What say you, Barack? Me and you against the world! Yes we can! It'll be fun -- and we may just get something done. Whaddaya got to lose? Hope?
P.S. Just to give you an idea of the new style I'll be bringing with me, when a cornhole like Sen. Ben Nelson tries to hold you up next time, this is what I will tell him in order to get his vote: "You've got exactly 30 seconds to rescind your demand or I will personally make sure that Nebraska doesn't get one more federal dollar for the rest of Obama's term. And then I will let everyone in your state know that you wear Sooner panties, backwards. NOW DROP AND GIVE ME 50!"
This should (but won't) end the "MSNBC is 'in the tank' for Obama" meme by "FOX Fans." President Obama's actions and inactions on the health care reform bill (among other things) isn't just torquing off "far left" liberals and progressives, it's losing him The Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
Here is Olbermann's Special Comment outlining his extreme displeasure with the health care reform bill as it currently exists in the Senate. It also has harsh words for the President himself. Now, I know that FOX "News" luminaries like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly will claim that they spoke out against President George W. Bush, they never did anything like this. Mr. Obama, it is really, really time for an Aaron Sorkin moment.
In his never-ending quest to be liked by everybody, President Barack Obama is instead turning both conservatives (who have been lock-stepping against him since day one) and liberals against him. Conservatives will oppose Obama no matter what he does, which should be clear to the man by now. Liberals are pissed because Obama just won't show enough oomph, won't fight for what he promised, and is too willing to compromise away liberal ideals in his futile attempt to get some sort of nominal "bipartisanship." It just ain't gonna happen.
Given that this is only Obama's first year of his first term, the damage isn't undoable. But it will be if something doesn't happen fast. My idea? Fire White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel--the man many progressives cite for some of the bizarre actions of the White House--and replace him with Aaron Sorkin. Yes, the creator and writer of The West Wing and the popular movie, An American President. I know he had a little "issue" with some illicit drugs (mushrooms and the like), but if he can write a speech like this for Obama? Holy smoke. That is what we need as a country, a Sorkin moment. At least hire the guy for some kick-ass speeches.
Now, I'm not talking specifically about the content of "President Shepherd"'s speech, more of the tone and tenor of it, the forcefulness. Even I thought the bit about guns was over the top. But if Obama returned to the tone of his campaign, if he figgin' laid down the law, said he was scrapping the current bill, demanding one that is "Medicare for everyone," through reconciliation. . .and demanded no less. Well, then we'd really have something.
After John McCain's erratic behavior today, and President Bush's we're all gonna die! deer-in-the-headlights speech tonight, this video is particularly refreshing.
I think America is hungry, starving for a head of state that is intelligent, well spoken, thoughtful, presentable. One that doesn't chuckle like a loon, or tap dance, or smile after saying dire things. It's like that exchange between Michael J. Fox and Michael Douglas in The American President:
Lewis Rothschild: People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.
President Andrew Shepherd: Lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference. (Source: IMDB.com)
