080607 Farewell Citizen Sarandon

Today I wanted to give you a nice blog explaining how bottled water was leading the country down the road to destruction both by poisoning us with toxins and by ruining the environment but Susan Sarandon had to speak up and attract my attention. The actress most recently seen in the heart wrenching “Speed Racer” in a role which has not been deemed worthy of a character bio on the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) is threatening to leave the country. With five movies currently in production she has apparently resigned herself to finish her Hollywood Days.

Ms. Sarandon literally launched her acting career by disrupting the 1968 Democratic convention. While I keep the mailman busy toting Netflix envelopes and spend many Tuesday afternoons at the movies, I have not seen a movie with her in it since “Children of Dune”. I did, however, grow up in era when teens were required to watch “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight every Friday.

After helping to put George W. Bush in the White House in 2000, this Ralph Nader backer has announced that she will leave the country if John McCain is elected this fall. She has been vocal in her support for Barack Obama and VERY vocal in her dislike of Hillary Clinton. I have searched the internet looking for some way she may have qualified her statement but to no avail. I have hoped to find clarification to show me that what she really meant was that America might not be a nice place.

It seems that Ms. Sarandon meant her remark to be an “If I don’t get my way, I’ll hold my breath until I turn blue” or, more exactly, “You’ll miss me when I’m gone” kind of threat. Now, it seems, I need to rearrange my list of qualifications for a president.

1. Who can provide for safety of Americans in the world of today and tomorrow?
2. Who can most effectively guide the nation economically?
3. Who can provide visionary leadership to protect the environment while new technologies are fostered?
4. Who can create a national consensus to rise above partisan politics?

Now, at the top of the list, whose election will cause the least ramifications from Susan Sarandon or any other Hollywood figures that need to be negotiated with?

While I mouth off my opinion here each week as well as to anyone who will listen to me the rest of the time, I do not really expect anyone to need to react to what I say. Hollywood types, however, seem to believe that sit up, take notice and do things based on what they say. Can she really believe that what she does the day after the election should be a factor in how people vote?

I am also at a loss for what it is about John McCain that Ms. Sarandon finds so objectionable. While the center of gravity of the Republican Party has shifted away from its libertarian base, Senator McCain has remained a voice of reason. He has proved that he can work with Republicans and with Democrats and he has consistently put the good of the country’s citizens ahead of his political career.

Whether or not her candidate is elected depends more on someone she has lost no love on that her threats. Five months out, this election looks to be very close. If Hillary Clinton packs up and goes home like Ronald Reagan did when he lost the nomination in 1976, then Senator Obama will be crippled. But if she stumps for him the way a defeated Ted Kennedy did for Jimmy Carter, then Obama’s base is broadened. This weekend, Hillary Clinton made her concession speech endorsing Barack Obama. Staying true to form, Senator Clinton spent most of her endorsement speech talking about herself. Senator Obama may need Ms. Sarandon as his ace in the hole.

If there are die hard Susan Sarandon fans out there who are worried about the future, please think back eight years. While Ms. Sarandon was working to convince Democrats to vote for Nader instead of Al Gore, her boyfriend Tim Robbins issued the following threat: if George Bush becomes president, he is outta here.