The pundit-wide comparison of Obama to Kennedy, Roosevelt and Lincoln is hyperbole for a nation that suffers democracy as its greatest vanity and self-inflation. It will hinder his efforts and lead his followers and the country inescapably toward some disappointment.
That said, if Obama wants his big plans to come across, he needs a director. I mean a movie director. Movie directors compose countervailing images and themes and messages into effective packages. It is at least a full level above the kind of direction that comes with Karl Rove and David Axelrod, but will bring a most universal success.
Forget Ford, Chevy and Dodge as the Big Three. The Big Three in this country and in our times are Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg, the DreamWorks team of Hollywood.
When Roosevelt sought victory in World War II, he called in Frank Capra. Capra also volunteered his vision to push the country forward through the Depression with great films like “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Visions of valor and heroism rising from the common people.
It should be noted that when politicians try to use symbolism is it often patronizing and insulting. In the Bush administration it has been about as subtle as Khrushchev beating his shoe on the table at the U.N. It had a kind of earthy charm, no doubt, back in the USSR.
Obama’s first support came from David Geffen, the Hollywood producer who was there when John Lennon died and when Joni Mitchell first awakened to the world. He should make that call.
A movie director like Spielberg can help Obama get his message across with a few very simple symbols, subtle but effective: Lincoln’s stove pipe hat, Kennedy’s rocking chair, a flag on the moon. This usually doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by direction and composition. People my age recall the Kennedy day with his children John John and Carolyn playing in the Oval Office. The play was natural and random, the composition of the photos designed by the artist who took the picture.
Nothing in the history of the republic was so painful to watch as some old Republican hacks going on the George Stephanopoulos show and comparing the invasion of Iraq to the Second World War. This is uncontrolled imagery; images thought up on the run by legislators who had no ability in this right-brain realm. It shackled Bush’s efforts from the start.
If Obama wants this vast public works program to be successful, the images need to be orchestrated into something simple, coherent, fully understandable and lasting.
Steven Spielberg tries to be a good citizen and a good American in his work. He was called to help orchestrate the Chinese Olympics, but, as I understand it, he demurred on issues of conscience. This Obama Moment needs orchestration as well. Now would be the time to make the call.
In World War II, Eisenhower also brought in people like Ruth Benedict, the great sociologist and author of The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, and C.G. Jung, the father of analytic psychology, to help understand and explain how Japan and Germany would respond to conquest and surrender. The depth of professionalism in those efforts was remarkable. Obama could do the same. Bringing in this level of professionalism in analysis and orchestration vastly increases his chances of success.
Visit Mr. Quigley’s website at http://quigleyblog.blogspot.com.