‘American President’ Misses the Reality

I came away from “The American President” with very mixed feelings. I enjoyed the comic elements inherent in a president’s trying to conduct a romance like a normal human being. I liked the cast and much of the dialogue, and I admired the musical score. All in all, it was a nice little diversion.

While I thought it was much funnier than Woody Allen’s “Mighty Aphrodite,” I didn’t think it was anywhere near as good as “Babe.” So, how was it that there was all this talk of Oscar sweeps? It couldn’t all be studio hype. After all, even Siskel and Ebert gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up. And how often does that happen, unless the movie’s been produced for under $10,000 and directed by a 19-year-old heroin addict?

As I say, I thought the movie was amusing. But deserving of multiple Oscars? Let’s get serious. Some of my problems with the movie are major, others minor. But, collectively, they prevented the movie from being much more than an alternative to “Ace Ventura II.”

For me, the first red flag arose during the widowed president’s initial scene with his adolescent daughter. As he enters her room she’s practicing scales on her trombone. He winces as she hits a series of flat notes. Two minutes later, though, when he turns to leave the room, she is suddenly able to make a musical joke by playing a passable “Hail to the Chief.” So, for the sake of two tiny jokes, the girl goes, in sitcom fashion, from being tone-deaf to being musically proficient.

Now we get to my larger gripes with the movie. When the president takes up romantically with the lady lobbyist for an ecology group, you would think the lady’s boss would be doing cartwheels down the corridor. Who better to persuade the commander-in-chief to push for pro-ecology legislation? But, not in this movie. Instead of giving the lady a bonus or at least a pat on the back, her boss gives her a bawling-out. Understand, she wasn’t caught cutting down redwoods or voting Republican, but only dancing with the president at a White House gala.

The crux of the plot is that the president, who has a 63% approval rating at the start of the movie, sees his popularity plummet by 20% when America discovers he’s sleeping with the lobbyist. With the election just months away, the movie suggests he has some tough decisions to make. Oh, really? It seems to me he has only one. Will he or won’t he propose? But in this movie, marriage is never even mentioned. Not one of those politically astute, wildly ambitious members of the president’s inner circle ever comes close to uttering the M-word. Not one of them even suggests that if only he would get engaged to this bright, honest, warm, attractive, patriotic woman (who also just happens to be great chums with the trombone player down the hall), his approval rating would double overnight.

And, finally, although the president announces during his self-righteously sermon that he’s a card-carrying member of the ACLU, when he goes before a joint session of Congress to deliver his State of the Union address, he gets a standing ovation. Not only are all the Democrats and all the visitors in the gallery up and cheering, but each and every Republican, as well!

In trying to be timely and issue-oriented, the movie trips over its own aspirations. In their desire to flaunt their own liberal bona fides, the writer and the director made a movie about Hollywood, not Washington, about being politically correct, not politically courageous. As a result, the president couldn’t just be a good man, like Jefferson Smith in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” or Dave in “Dave,” decent guys who were just basically in favor of giving poor kids a break. No, this movie hero’s got to be every bit as partisan as Newt Gingrich. But then, unlike a real-life politician, once he wraps himself in his liberal robes, he not only gets the girl, he gets bipartisan canonization.

Fables and fairy tales are all well and good, but they shouldn’t try to double as fund-raising events for the Reelect Bill Clifton Campaign Committee.

And I say that with every intention of voting for Clinton come next November.