the most powerful man in the world? so the elections are coming up in a month or so. for the very first time, i'll be exercising my right to vote. i've never been remotely interested in politics but of late, you can't be a part of the world and not be into politics -- even if nominally. maybe it coincides with being older, but the ongoing debate over what to do in iraq, who really won the presidency in 2000, all of that stuff, can't help but pull you into the legislative world. i've been watching/listening to the recent debates (a farce as far as i'm concerned) and it's clear who i'm voting for. i'm voting for michael douglas, because he is the american president.



has everyone seen this movie? you really should. i've always loved this movie but having watched it four times in the past week, each nuance has been revealed to me and i'm ready to vault the film to top twenty status. this is just a great film. it's funny, it's smart, it's engaging, it's inspirational, it's patriotioc, it's got tons of quotable dialogue. it's absolutely the best.



if you watch the debates, if you watch kerry and bush stumble through glorified public service announcements, and then you watch the american president, you'd vote for michael douglas too. he is everything that a president should be. i mean, andrew shepherd -- the character in a movie script -- is everything a president should be. if they ever put together a wag the dog documentary on one of our incumbent presidents, and it portrayed the president in a similar heroic and realistic light, that president would have the throne of america bequeathed onto him for however long he wanted. fuck the two term policy. i want andrew shepherd as my president forever.

"you want free speech? let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil who is standing center stage advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours."

it's unbelievable how well this movie is written. quick snappy dialogue, foot to the pedal pacing, and annette bening's eyes that light up right on cue. it's ridiculous how well they captured annette bening's glittering eyes, simply ridiculous. i contend that it must be CGI.



the current election invokes one percent of the emotional punch and patriotism that this movie does. it's sad how great andrew shepard is and how poor our two current choices are. bush and kerry. gimme a break. i could go to the local grocery store and find better candidates.

lewis rothschild: ...people want leadership, mr president, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. they want leadership. they're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.



president andrew shepherd: lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. people don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. they drink the sand because they don't know the difference.

sadly, in the 2004 campaign, we know the difference between sand and water, we just don't have any other realistic options around. i'm voting kerry by the way, even though i think he just happens to be the right man at the right time, and not a spectacular choice based on his own merits. i'm anti-bush not because of his warmongering, but because of his fundamentalist religious beliefs. bush and his ideological brethren scare me.



ps. i think the electoral college process is bunk. absolutely bunk. i'm gonna have to research why it was instituted in the first place before i stand by my statement but so far, i find the electoral college idea outdated and constricting.