Clint Eastwood: We Love and Revere You Regardless of the Pundits

Eastwood Speaking to "Obama"

     Clint Eastwood spoke at the RNC on August 30 as a conservative – without explicit party affiliation – uncertain about how to vote, but questioning President Obama’s effectiveness over the last four years.  This was a major theme of the convention with the motivation to attract as many
undecided and probably libertarian voters as possible.  (The Democrats will have the same motivation next week, but with a different theme).  I thought Eastwood was funny, tough, honest, and completely himself.  He was the only speaker I saw about whom I could write that.  (We’ll see if there’s someone like that next week).

     TV commentators and online chatterboxes were all over Eastwood as if he were some dotty nut.  Let’s not forget that Ronald Reagan didn’t always make complete sense – sentence by sentence – in the last year of his presidency, but people let that one go.  Eastwood, however, did make pragmatic sense, though he was off the cuff so, at times, had to find the words for his thoughts.  This happens in all types of venues.  Yes, he spoke to an empty chair, but he’d set that up as a bit and metaphysically he was saying that President Obama is an empty chair.  I don’t agree with that myself, but Eastwood met the goals of his rhetorical choice.  

     One thing to keep in mind:  Clint Eastwood has made more purely enjoyable movies than any other American director of his generation.  Yes, Scorsese has made more great movies on average and Altman was able to work in almost every genre, but Eastwood’s were fun for teenaged and mainly older, mainly male viewers.  I loved seeing his movies with my Dad and I thank him for that; the pundits need to start thinking a little beyond their myopic vision of the ‘political message.’

If you missed his speech, here's the video:
http://youtu.be/qiHNVYRTKP8