OPINION:
When Barack Obama leaves the White House in January 2017, he’ll need to move on to another vocation. Fortunately, the president is in luck: The doorway to a job with one of his many Hollywood admirers already appears to be wide open.
Tinseltown’s never-ending love affair with Mr. Obama often borders on the point of nausea. He’s won two Grammy Awards for best spoken-word album. He’s also won a NAACP Image Award, and has been nominated for Teen Choice and Kids’ Choice awards. He’s been praised at the Oscars — and Michelle Obama even appeared by satellite to announce the 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture winner (“Argo”).
His most recent nomination of sorts, however, can only be described as a “you’ve got to be kidding me” moment.
Last week, an episode of “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis,” which appears on the website Funny or Die and features a faux interview with Mr. Obama, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program. First posted on March 11, more than 22 million people have already viewed this skit. It has been credited in helping get more Americans interested in Obamacare and visit the Healthcare.gov website.
Liberal media commentators couldn’t stop wagging their tongues in anticipation of Mr. Obama becoming the first president to ever win an Emmy. (Jackie Kennedy had won a special Trustees’ Award in 1962 for her tour of the White House on CBS.) Alas, their dreams were shattered when it was revealed that only the executive producers — Scott Aukerman, B.J. Porter, Mike Farah and Mr. Galifianakis — had been nominated.
I’ve watched the Galifianakis-Obama skit. It’s mildly amusing in small doses, and fairly silly for the most part. While it’s hard to know exactly what constitutes the criteria for an Emmy nomination, there’s no doubt that politics play a role. Considering Hollywood’s prevalent left-wing political behavior, we shouldn’t be terribly surprised by a fake interview with a liberal president making the cut.
Even so, I just can’t believe that this long-term love affair continues to reach new lows. What’s next? A Golden Globe, a Tony or perhaps a grass-roots effort to get him a second Nobel Peace Prize? Maybe they’ll make a massive biopic as a sympathetic send-off. (I sure hope Andy Serkis is hired to play Mr. Obama’s teleprompter in the voice of “Gollum.”) Or they’ll get behind an effort to produce what the world has been waiting for on pins and needles: “Obama: The Musical.”
This whole experience has actually made Bill Clinton’s incestuous relationship with Hollywood’s elite look rather palatable at times.
Look, we all know that Hollywood liberals live in their own little world. They support certain political and economic ideas, and quite a few prominent figures, that most sensible people would immediately reject.
Here’s a classic example that’s always made me laugh.
Some high-income earners in California, including actors Ed Asner and Richard Lewis, wrote a public letter in 2002 to then-Gov. Gray Davis and state legislative leaders. They literally begged their Democratic counterpart to reinstate top income tax brackets to balance the budget.
Isn’t that rich — the rich telling politicians what to do with their money and other people’s money? For Tinseltown types like Mr. Asner and Mr. Lewis, it gives them a golden opportunity to claim expertise in an area they know absolutely nothing about.
With respect to Mr. Obama’s time in office, Hollywood is clearly unable to read the tea leaves. Two recent public opinion polls by centrist organizations, Zogby and Quinnipiac University, showed that the president’s approval rating is tanking and his “legacy” is waning.
Quinnipiac also revealed Mr. Obama was now considered the “worst president” since World War II. His 33 percent disapproval rating was higher than that of George W. Bush (28 percent), Richard Nixon (13 percent) and Jimmy Carter (8 percent). In contrast, Ronald Reagan had a 35 percent approval rating as “best president,” followed by Bill Clinton (18 percent), John F. Kennedy (15 percent) and Mr. Obama (8 percent).
Say what you want about polling, and I’ve made my fair share of negative assessments, but there’s no doubt Mr. Obama is out of favor with most Americans.
It’s hard to understand why the Hollywood elite, as jaded and as foolish as they are, still think this president walks on water and indirectly nominate him for an Emmy. It’s also a wonder why we even bother to pay attention to them any longer.
Michael Taube is a contributor to The Washington Times.
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