A great sadness swept over the nation at the death of actor James Garner on July 19, at his home in Brentwood, California.
Papers, magazines (and, of course, the tabloids) covered Garner's passing like wildfire. Many bloggers dedicated their entire columns to the death of the beloved actor. Some writers even likened Garner's passing to the obliteration of the Obama presidency.
For the record, Garner was both a huge Obama supporter, and a major leftist. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be sad that we just lost a highly popular actor, but it should mean that we need to have our ducks in a row before we start talking about fallen presidencies and dead actors in the same breath.
James Garner was a decent actor who made some good (but not great) movies – but the fact is that he was a TV star and nothing more. He didn't have the presence to carry a film on the big screen.
But let's talk about the difference between actors and stars. How is it that somebody becomes a star? Well, for one, they have a great agent. But certainly stars are not necessarily great actors.
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Clint Eastwood is perfect example of a star who gets by with very limited acting abilities. But he's got something else. It's called "presence." How do you define presence? You don't. Some actors have it – some don't.
The fact is, we are so enamored of actors, we tend to idolize the characters they play onscreen and overlook their shortcomings as human beings – and moreover, their shortcomings as Americans.
As fans, we are continually "star struck," and so we get mixed up between fantasy and reality. So while we're busy mourning the loss of Garner – the actor – we overlook basic truths about Garner – the man.
Most actors who are, in fact, big Obama supporters – including major leftists like Garner – tend to flaunt their political beliefs. They are eminently proud of the beliefs they espouse, often to the point of bashing you with them until you beg for mercy.
You won't find nearly as many conservatives – Clint Eastwood being the prime example – who go about whacking you over the head with their political beliefs.
When you're as big as Eastwood is, you can afford to stand up for your beliefs. In Eastwood's case, he's not only not afraid to say what he believes in, but like a true "Dirty Harry," when the time comes for him to do so, he will shove it right in your face. "Take that … punk" you can almost hear Eastwood sneer when he stands behind the podium at a political rally.
Meanwhile, the actors who happen to share Eastwood's right-wing beliefs are much more likely to keep these beliefs nicely tucked away in the back of their closet.
So, is Barack Obama an actor or a star? He's both. That's what made him so confusing, at least at the beginning of his "career." But unfortunately, Obama's double-tongued rhetoric ultimately exposed him – even to his die-hard fans – as a sham and a liar.
Today, anybody with half-a-brain knows that the Obama presidency is self-destructing and, even more shameful, that this presidency was a creation of the culture from the get-go. Obama got carried away one too many times, using his "star power" to lie to the nation. Ultimately he was exposed, but it took far too long for that to finally happen. And before his mask was pulled off, Obama had done irreparable damage not just to his party, but to America and to the world.
A study of the Hollywood system is a great exercise in understanding how "star power" can befuddle and confuse even the best thinkers among us.
The real tragedy of the Hollywood system is that not only is it considered de rigeur to flaunt your beliefs, but if you are, in fact, a conservative, it's much more likely that you'll keep your beliefs to yourself. There are precious few Clint Eastwoods working in the film business today.
So it's fine and dandy to write columns and blogs about what a great human being James Garner was. What else could we expect?
What the columnists and the bloggers don't do is to criticize a presidency that was, from Day 1, a fraud and a disaster.
And that's the real tragedy of the sham that is the Hollywood system.
Most people who work in Hollywood continue to buy the big lie. The conservatives still tend to stay in the closet. And the writers drool over a good, but mediocre, actor like James Garner.
Right now, the columnists and the bloggers are still shedding crocodile tears over the loss of James Garner. But the unfortunate truth is that it's going to take about two weeks, and you're not going to see Garner's name in the papers anymore. He'll be talked about and remembered by those who were close to him. And before you know it, he'll soon pass into the scrapbook of entertainment history.
But what will happen when the Obama presidency finally collapses? One can only hope that the conservatives in Hollywood – the ones who have the power to maintain political clout – will recognize that they've had had the wool pulled over their eyes by a man who was a pretty damn good actor.
But unlike Garner, Obama will not fade into the dustbin of history. The first black president of the United States of America will never be forgotten.
One can only hope that ultimately the conservatives in Hollywood will realize that they've been scammed, and that their shame will allow them to publicly tell the truth about the damage that this con artist and liar has done to the world.
But I'm afraid that Hollywood conservatives aren't going to give up the ghost so easily.
When the Obama presidency collapses, are the Hollywood conservatives who've been hiding in the closets going to come out of hiding and finally challenge the false beliefs of the leftists?
I wish I could say that I think that will happen.
And I wish I could close this column like all the writers who are presently bemoaning the loss of this "great actor" with some poetic line about how Garner will never be forgotten.
Unfortunately, that's simply not the case. It may not be a poetic ending to this column, but the bottom line is, it's not the truth.
Give it two weeks – or just wait until the next well-known actor bites the dust – and you'll see how quickly Hollywood forgets its own.