I know Popwatch isn’t so much the place y’all go for politics, but watching all the breathless coverage about the impending health care vote in Congress — Mitchell votes “Yes!” Altmire votes “No!” — just keeps reminding me of the 1995 Michael Douglas/Annette Bening romance The American President. In the pre-West-Wing-Aaron-Sorkin-scripted under-appreciated gem, Douglas plays widowed president Andrew Shepherd, who’s determined to pass a comprehensive crime bill, and Bening plays the spitfire environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade, who’s determined to pass a comprehensive climate bill. When they first meet, President Shepherd makes a deal with Ms. Wade: Her bill needs 34 votes to pass, and if she lands the first 24, he’ll get the last 10.
This being a movie, the two subsequently fall in love, but what I keep thinking about is the montage of legislative scrambling as the White House and Wade’s lobbying firm work to secure enough votes for their respective bills. Both offices have giant tear-away signs counting down the number of needed votes; each new “Yes” vote causes someone to rip down a number with satisfying gusto.
I can’t be the only one thinking about this movie this weekend, right? I’m not alone in looking at this chart of undecided representatives and imagining giant countdown easels hanging in the White House and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office, yes? It’s not just me?
Meanwhile, I’ve been unable to find a clip of that aforementioned vote collecting montage in The American President, but since it’s also one of the best old-fashioned Hollywood romantic movies of the last 20 years, here’s one of my favorite scenes from the film, when President Shepherd and Ms. Wade confront the sexual tension between them:
Adam B Vary much an idiot
I loved this movie – though I don’t remember Annette Bening looking so much like Peter Pan.
YES! I totally agree with this– I love the scenes of the lobbyists and White House employees arguing passionately on the phone with the various Congress members as well. What a great movie, thanks for this!
What? Our country is divided; people in an uproar; the world is watching; our children’s future and financial security in debate and this? “Oh, this reminds me of an lame movie…” It is not “breathless coverage” and ha – ha easles in the WH. Write about movies, Idolotry and such but this is inane.
easels.
Lighten up! SOMEONE has to find something positive in that mess that is going on in Washington. So don’t get your panties in a snit. Relax. Oh BTW – this is not only about YOUR kids’ future but everyone’s future.
The movie I am reminded most of is 1984.
oh stop. If you would pay attention and not just tune out to Glen Beck or Hannity, you’d realize there is no takeover of healthcare. The public option is not in the bill. Just stop. You’re going to look like a complete fool when this passes and none of your gloom and doom comes to pass. Seriously, educate yourself.
As for the movie comparison, I thought Obama’s speech today was like Douglas’ speech at the end.
So where are you getting your information? Recommend some alternative sources instead of just slamming Jack.
um – alternate sources??
How about reading or watching REAL NEWS, instead of the paranoid, hate-filled “entertainment” that Fox “News” represents?
The BBC? Reuters? The Associated Press? There are three, all of them neutral.
what do you mean alternative sources? This is the problem. Ignorant conservatives (not all conservatives are ignorant) believe everyone BUT fox news is corrupt and biased. Which is ridiculous. What source do you want? Define “government takeover of healthcare” please. What is being taken over? Nothing. Zilch. Everything is still private when it comes to insurance. Deficit? The CBO says it will decrease the deficit. And where were the conservatives during Bush who increased the debt constantly. No cries of foul play then. Good GOD I am so tired of debating people who seem to live on a different PLANET. There are responsible conservatives still out there. But unless the GOP reclaims their platform from people who CHOSE to live in ignorance and soundbytes, they are going to collapse. Not in the short term (as with any movement of passion), but in the long term. Educate yourself.
oh and PS, every single industrialized country has UNIVERSAL healthcare…as in the “zomg communist” single-payer kind of healthcare. This bill is about as liberal as Karl Rove. Fascinating.
1984– Perfect !
Having the IRS monitor our personal health plans is certainly nothing to worry about…. Nope….
Not to mention direct access to your bank account.
No, it’s not a healthcare takeover, it’s a takeover of our entire system. This is just the beginning.
lol, your paranoid view of the world entertains me.
Your slimy Alinsky tactics nauseate me.
WHAT?????? You don’t think the IRS isn’t involved NOW in our health insurance plans??? You do realize you can deduct your own health care premiums if you buy your own insurance.
any article about The American President is a friend of mine.
I appreciate the fun reference and echo the sentiment that The American President is an underrated movie.
with a great soundtrack too.
It was on ok movie, but the president was too naive, even for fiction. He didn’t understand why it was a big deal that there was a picture of his girlfriend burning the American flag. It was incomprehensible to him that dating a lobbyist that is actively lobbying the White House would become an issue. I about fell out of my chair when he announced he was going to go door to door and round up all the guns, and his press aide was glowing about all the reporters were going to describe him as erudite. Um, no Michael, I think the next press briefing is going to be a mad house.
Whatever! More like Schindler’s List.
You must be a conservative… like all conservatives, you’re ruled by fear. Not logic, intelligence, science, or fact; just fear.
Tarc, and you are a narrow minded prejudiced individual to make a comment like that. Not all conservatives are ruled by fear.
Yes, I have the sense to be afraid. I am also armed with knowledge from doing my own research, rather than parroting my radical left-wing college professor’s view of “reality”.
well you’d have to go to school to have a professor…
Good analogy, except you’re on the fascist racist side of your example. Teabaggers protesting at the Capitol today spit on Rep. Cleaver and called Rep. John Lewis a n-word. They had to be escorted inside by Capitol police for their own safety. Rep. Lewis is a national hero and one of the finest men this country has ever produced. They is a special place in Hell next to Hitler for people who would treat John Lewis this way.
Oh, come on. You’re certainly entitled to have an opinion about politics (or movies, for that matter), but must you disrespect Holocaust victims and survivors in the process?
This and The Contender are the two best political films in the last twenty years.
Completely underrated movie. Sometimes I wish we lived in a world where everyone was as smart and articulate as they would be in a Sorkin script.
There are a lot of connections between the health care bill and this movie. At the end of the movie the president realized that his bill will fix absolutely nothing because he traded away all the important parts to get votes. So he throws it out at the end and decides to do the right thing – to hell with the lobbyists and the pandering.
I wish Obama had done this 9 months ago. Stop trying to please the “alarmists” who are actually bought and paid for by big pharma. Stop paying middle men insurance companies who get rich on the backs of sick people and finally have a single payer system that works just find for every other industrialized country on the face of the planet.
Please don’t compare Obama to my favorite movie president. Nothing could compare to “My name’s Andrew Shephard and I AM the President.” Classic.
Yes, I also have a hard time imagining dear Andrew decorating the White House Christmas tree with pictures of Chairman Mao, a ruthless dictator responsible for 80 MILLION deaths. Don’t you?
I live in DC and have been hearing about this 24/7 for MONTHS. Was just thinking of this comparison on my way home on Friday! Totally apt!
Wag the Dog?
Great movie, though with todays mass media, it’d be a little hard to fake a war like that. Still good though.