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MTV Movies Blog � Do Barack Obama�s Speechwriters Watch Too Much Aaron Sorkin?
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Do Barack Obama�s Speechwriters Watch Too Much Aaron Sorkin?
Published by Josh Horowitz on Friday, August 29, 2008 at 11:46 am.
As the fireworks figuratively and literally went off at the close of Senator Barack Obama�s acceptance delivery at Invesco Field in Denver last night, a few observers were reminded of some other powerful political speech some 13 age earlier � that of President Andrew Shepherd.
Shepherd of track ran in a heatedly contested reelection campaign against Senator Bob Rumson when the unscathed Sydney Ellen Wade controversy was raging. Confused? Don�t be. The rousing speech by Shepherd came not on a convention soapbox but a Hollywood soundstage. The film was �The American President� and the words were delivered passionately by Michael Douglas (and written by acclaimed film writer Aaron Sorkin).
While last night�s persuasive oratory by Obama didn�t straight quote Sorkin�s uplifting closing curtain, there were several moments that had us feeling d�j� vu. And even MSNBC�s Keith Olbermann mentioned the similarities. Here�s a brief comparison.
Do their opponents �get it�?
Barack Obama: �Now, I don�t believe that Senator McCain doesn�t precaution what�s going away on in the lives of Americans. I precisely think he doesn�t get it on. � It�s not because John McCain doesn�t forethought. It�s because John McCain doesn�t get it.�
Andrew Shepherd: �I�ve known Bob Rumson for eld, and I�d been operating under the assumption that the reasonableness Bob devotes so much time and energy yelling at the rain was that he simply didn�t get it. Well, I was wrong, Bob�s problem isn�t that he doesn�t get it; Bob�s job is that he can�t sell it.�
Our take: Shepherd is a bit harder on poor Bob Rumson than the gentleman from Illinois. Obama took great pains to portray Senator McCain as an honourable if maybe ignorant public servant while President Shepherd damns Rumson derisively and decisively.
Ready for a fight
Obama: �If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgement, to serve as the next commander in chief, that�s a debate I�m ready to have.�
Shepherd: �We�ve got serious problems � and we need serious people. And if you want to talk well-nigh character, Bob, you better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to speak about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I�ll show up.�
Our take: Both men took a long hard look at the American citizenry (ahem, the camera) and issued a challenge to their antagonist. Again, Obama�s rhetoric was a spot more subtle than Shepherd�s �we pauperism serious people� dis, just you take to remember that Rumson was broiling the president�s girlfriend over the coals. Say what you will about McCain�s tactics, at least he�s kept his attacks focused squarely on his opposer and not on Michelle Obama.
�Serious� similarities
Obama: �The times are excessively serious, the stakes are too high for this same drumbeater playbook.�
Shepherd: �We have serious problems to solve, and we want serious multitude to lick them.�
Our Take: We get it. It�s time to get serious.
The large finish
Obama: �Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.�
Shepherd: �My identify is Andrew Shepherd, and I am the president.�
Our take: Shepherd�s finish is an undeniable fist-pump instigant, but he committed carmine sin numero uno for any person seeking the highest office in the land. Always, we repeat always say �God Bless America.� And he wasn�t even eroding an American flag pin. Our gauge? Shepherd didn�t win reelection.
If you�re hungry for a more, er, serious take on Obama�s lecture, tune in to MTV tonight at 7:30 for �Obama Decoded.� In the lag, tell us: Did Obama�s speech prompt you of any former fictional heads of state?
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