Beatty, at a Harvard Forum, Sounds Like a Candidate

For a noncandidate, he’s got the stump speech down: “We don’t need a third party, we need a second party.”

The line worked in September at Warren Beatty’s first major political appearance in Los Angeles, and Wednesday night, at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, it once again drew an enthusiastic response.

Speaking as part of a forum series that recently has drawn such luminaries as Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura and Jordan’s King Abdullah, Beatty rattled off statistics about the growing gap between rich and poor in America. He cited university studies. He demanded universal health care and likened America to South Africa in its failure to provide it. He quoted “The Federalist Papers.” He accused rich Americans of buying politicians and insisted that public campaign financing would encourage disenchanted citizens to vote.

“The $58 million raised by Bush so far has come from three-tenths of 1%” of Americans, said Beatty, a liberal Democrat. “That, in my opinion, is why so few people vote. They feel they’ve got nothing to do with the government. And they’re right.”

Like anyone tangentially involved in politics, Beatty name-dropped. He traced his lifelong activism to President Kennedy, “who taught me never to minimize the value of the access that an entertainer or performer has.”

At 62, Beatty seems to be making it his business now to encourage dissent. Dump those politicians who sell out to big interests, he said.

“Do we belong to a party that just sort of sweeps this stuff under the rug, that lives in a kind of Potemkin village and says ‘most things are going right in this country?’ ” he asked.

The actor/director/movie writer/producer--as he was described in an op-ed article he wrote last summer for the New York Times--came to Harvard at the invitation of former Sen. Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, now director of the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

Even though he is not yet old enough to vote, David Montes, a 17-year-old Harvard freshman from Santa Monica, said he arrived early to get a good seat because “I’m a progressive. I’m genuinely interested in what he has to say.”

Often called a progressive himself, Beatty--in a charcoal sweater and blazer (very Hollywood)--said, “I’m whatever a liberal from the ‘60s should have turned into by now.”

True to his liberal convictions, Beatty touched on globalization, the environment and most of all, the need for immediate campaign finance reform.

“I’d like to help bring that about,” he said, without saying how.

A Harvard freshman asked about what Beatty was going to do about the disparity in actors’ incomes if he was so upset about the excessive salaries earned by top executives.

“Very good. You’ve mentioned it. DONE!” Beatty said, then agreed that salaries in the movie business are “totally out of whack.” He actually blushed as he said, “I promise never to take another nickel.”

Asked if he will run for president, he said, “Umm . . . uh . . . here’s the answer: I don’t know.”

Beatty praised Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey as well intentioned but just not liberal enough. “I’m hoping to affect the agenda.”

As for people who say that because he is a celebrity his views shouldn’t be taken seriously, Beatty said: “They’re dumb.”