The American President

I forget the last time I've seen this movie starring Michael Douglas and Annette Benning with Douglas playing President Andrew Shepherd and Benning playing a lobbyist who caught the romantic attention of the widower President. This was a great movie and it came to mind after I did a search for this film, A Chorus Line, at random and found that Douglas was in it. Then my attention turned to The American President.

This film was released in the mid-1990s and I was there to watch it at the Ford City theaters at that time. It was a good movie then and when my folks got it at home on VHS it was still a good movie. As a matter of fact the most recent time I watched the film was whenever it was reviewed over at The Movie Cabinet. It might need to get another viewing after witnessing not only history in the making, but also noting the excitement of so many people over a brand new Presidency.

To describe this movie and to be sure I've always felt this way, this movie describes a very idealistic Presidency. Of course this might be an ideal Presidency from a liberal perspective and it is there is talk of gun control and making fuel efficient cars to clean the environment. One can only imagine the most ideal conservative Presidency, but then I throw a curve ball. How about the most ideal Presidency period? What should that entail?

I figured that if the film just showed the President of the United States following the US Constitution in his everyday dealings as the Chief Executive it might be a boring film. It might be likely that the President won't allow himself to do anything although I'm sure that's what most of our fellow citizens would like anyway. Of course what most Americans want in a President doesn't exactly entail that. Perhaps some if you have an answer.

Perhaps I offered a bit of info as to what I'd like to see in a President. Although to be honest in the mid-1990s Douglas played a President who I believed in more than Bill Clinton. How messed up is that? A fictional man in a scripted film portrayed a much better President or a much more ideal President than the one who was actually sitting in the hot seat at that point in time! That was my feelings on it at the time.

Now we're living in an era where the new future President is offering more excitement than ever before. It might certainly go beyond the fact that he is the first black President, but certainly the fact that he has a certain youth and he's a fresh face. Although to be sure Bill Clinton also had youth and a fresh face. I wonder what it is about Obama that gives people excitement about him and the future of the United States of America?

Hopefully we'll find out that answer. I also look forward to the future Obama Presidency. Also perhaps the writer of The American President and the creator of the TV series The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, can create another idealized Presidency for a new generation. Especially to tap into this excitement that people now have in this country.

Of course for right now we might just have to settle for The American President and perhaps watch the real-life idealized Presidency in action but only after his inauguration and he gets settled in. Some might not have foreseen the crises that have erupted late in this year before the elections even commenced, but I sincerely look forward to seeing what Obama can do. May my President be a good one!