OK, I'll weigh in on Eastwood. I have remained silent throughout the Republican convention because I chose, a few days ago, to take some time off to finish my new book--convention be damned. But here's something I have not heard elsewhere with regard to Clint Eastwood's grotesque performance: aside from its inanity and impropriety, his characterization of Barack Obama was so far off base as to be pitiably inept. Nothing the president has ever said or implied would suggest that he'd stoop to the kind of crass, unadulterated rudeness the movie start attributed to him. Eastwood was talking to himself in that empty chair, not the president. It was pathetic.
Pathetic too, in my view, are the accusations of bitterness, anger and envy that have become a daily part of the Republican arsenal against him. If anything, the president has erred on the side of kindness, old-fashioned courtesy, a willingness to listen and, yes, compromise. To a fault. And in plain view of anyone who might have taken the trouble to watch and listen to what he has had to say.
The attribution of words, thoughts, feelings and intentions to one's opponent is a well-worn rhetorical device. I hear a lot of it from the Republican side: this is what Obama thinks--when he has said and done nothing to indicate that he thinks anything of the sort. Eastwood's performance unintentionally revealed both the frequency and the crassness of the strategy. Cite his words, yes, by all means. His own words. And cite them in context, please, unlike the "you didn't build that" quote out of which the convention created such a ridiculous straw house.
Fortunately, there have been plenty of Big Bad Wolves around to huff and puff and blow that straw house down. No further help needed from me.
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