When Worlds Collide

What if, rather than a Hollywood celebrity running for high public office, the exact opposite would happen?

What if a president became an actor?

Suppose, for example, that when Bill Clinton leaves the White House and seeks new ways to fill his days, he hires an agent from William Morris (or CAA or ICM), takes acting classes (or not) and makes himself available (for $20 million) to star in a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster.

Clinton in a romantic tear-jerker. Clinton in a slapstick comedy. Clinton in a Western. Clinton in science fiction.

He’s a handsome guy. He’s got a sense of humor. He is tall and looks pretty tough. And we all know him to be quite a story teller.

How would America react?

I have been considering this scenario for weeks, while following a seemingly never-ending discussion of celebrity candidates.

Too many people get worked up whenever an entertainer’s name surfaces in politics. As if this were something new.

I’m so bored with that. However, if more elected officials began going into show business, that would be interesting.

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The latest I hear is that there’s a new Web site exploring a need for the Reform Party to consider someone new as its 2000 presidential nominee:

Oprah Winfrey.

I feel certain that President Winfrey would be an excellent leader of the Free World and that she would probably be willing to hold Cabinet meetings before a live studio audience. But it makes me curious which celebrity’s name is going to surface as a possible political candidate next.

Whoopi Goldberg? Woody Allen? Woody Harrelson? Florence Henderson? Regis? Kathie Lee?

It could be anybody. In the ranks of the Reform Party, for example, now that the ever-popular Ross Perot is sitting this one out, there seems to be no shortage of names being dropped into the suggestion box.

The fact that party strongman--literally--Jesse Ventura is using his considerable clout to endorse East Coast real estate tycoon/buffoon Donald Trump as a legitimate contender for the Reform presidential nomination is causing quite a flap. Some seem reluctant to belong to a party controlled by The Donald and The Body--or, as I think of them, the playboy and the Playboy Interview.

Lowell P. Weicker, the former Connecticut governor and senator who hopes to head the Reform ticket, expressed concern recently about the party being viewed by the public as a bunch of wackos.

And the outgoing party chairman, Russ Verner, is so hot under the collar about Ventura’s recent outrageous interview in Playboy, he has called for Ventura’s resignation from the party.

(The Body surrender? Fat chance.)

Ventura’s view that organized religion is “a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people,” among other choice tidbits, enraged Reform Party members who were already wondering whether they could justify wacko Pat Buchanan’s possible crossover into their ranks.

To quote a recent essay by Garrison Keillor, the governor of Minnesota is “a yahoo who has never confessed to a single regret or second thought.”

As in the wrestling ring, however, Ventura isn’t likely to back down.

It’s just too bad that actor Arnold Schwarzenegger clarified a few days ago that he wasn’t really serious about wanting to be governor of California. I would personally prefer to have a stronger governor than we do right now, in case Californians and Minnesotans ever get into a fight.

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Actors become politicians all the time. They must believe the profession prepares them for public speaking (or for bombing all over the world).

Very few do the opposite. Fred Thompson, a Republican senator from Tennessee, did go from politics to acting then back to politics, however, so it’s not without precedent.

There has been talk for years that when Clinton’s term is up, he will be offered a position in the DreamWorks SKG film studio by its founding fathers, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.

Clinton should produce a picture that co-stars Strom Thurmond with Uma Thurman, or perhaps one with Trent Lott and Brad Pitt. If actors are going to get into politics, fair is fair.

I just wish people wouldn’t mock every celebrity who runs for office. Many actors are smart, responsible people. Unlike, say, wrestlers.

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Mike Downey’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write to him at Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. E-mail: mike.downey@latimes.com