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The Perils of Endorsement

August 11th, 2008
By JAZZ SHAW, Assistant Editor

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Jolie.jpeg It may come as a surprise to many political observers that Angelina Jolie has not yet decided which candidate will receive her vote this November. Her stated reasons would indicate that she’s weighing her options carefully and waiting to hear more from the candidates on the issues most important to her. (These will come as no surprise to those familiar with her extensive work in human rights and aid to children around the world.)

Both campaigns have reached out to her, apparently to court her support. But in a statement to Variety provided by political adviser Trevor Neilson, Jolie says that she is waiting to make up her mind.

“I have not decided on a candidate,” Jolie says, “I am waiting to see the commitments they will make on issues like international justice, refugees and how to address the needs of children in crisis around the world.”

I suppose it’s understandable that some politicians might be interested in the endorsement of Ms. Jolie. Unlike most actors, she actually has some degree of credibility in the political arena, given her work as a United Nations “Good Will Ambassador” and fundraising for international aid. It does make me wonder, however, why Jolie would want to put herself in that position. I’m not saying that she (or anyone else) isn’t free to endorse, support, campaign or fundraise for the candidates of their choice - she certainly is. But celebrities make their living on the good will of the public, regardless of their political affiliation or preferences. When they endorse candidates or make controversial remarks they put at least a portion of their potential income on the line.

Hollywood carries, for better or worse, a reputation for being heavily-liberal and supporters of the Democrats. (There are, of course, exceptions.) For this, the entire establishment has been excoriated by conservative, Right wing pundits who seem to take particular joy in every piece of bad box-office news. They frequently note sagging ticket sales as evidence that America doesn’t care for their “liberal, anti-American” sentiments. (None of this seems to have affected the current series of summer blockbusters, including Dark Knight, which currently is threatening to eclipse Titanic for all time profits.) Parallels can be found in the music business as well, where the Dixie Chicks paid a price in popularity for criticizing the president.

As such, I would think that actors and singers would be more cautious about jumping into the circus of American elections. For a cautionary tale of exactly how fast the worm can turn, the stars need look no further than Condi Rice. Admittedly, Secretary Rice is not a celebrity and holds appointed rather than elected office, but she is very much in the public eye. She recently made a seemingly casual statement about the election. When asked if she would “feel safe” if Obama were elected president, she responded saying, “Oh, the United States will be fine.”

Keep in mind that Rice has long been a darling of the conservative base, with widespread movements to “draft” her to run for president this year and, having failed at that, to have McCain pick her as his running mate. But upon saying that one line - not even endorsing Obama, but simply opining that the republic would not fail were he to be elected - a post appeared at the popular Right wing blog Hot Air. It contained only one paragraph of commentary and quoted Condi on this subject. Only 180 seconds after the article went up, a comment appeared saying, “Blood is thicker than water.” Only nine more minutes passed when another commenter corrected that, saying, “No no! It’s black is thicker than reality!” These were interspersed with other calls for “throwing her under the bus” and “Damn, she doesn’t like us honkies either. It’s a shame.”

(As a side-note to the management of Hot Air, is there no comment moderation over there? I understand that registration to comment is generally closed to cut down on the trolls, but does anyone police the comments? I would think that “black is thicker than reality” would be beyond the pale for anyone. I understand it’s hard to keep track of more than 350 comments, but these showed up in the first two dozen on a very popular thread.)

Condi Rice has no need of further support for political ambitions nor a career on the silver screen. If she is treated in this fashion so rapidly, actual celebrities risk a lot by taking sides in public. Angelina Jolie has a very successful film career going as well as extensive charity work. I have to wonder if she wants to risk all of that by throwing herself into the fray during such a contentious election season.



This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 8:47 am and is filed under Celebrities, Politics, Entertainment. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 7 Comments

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    You know, in a country where black people (myself included) have voted for white politicians since we could vote, and have always voted in presidential elections, it find it highly amusing when people make comments like that (from Hot Air). Condi Rice says "Oh, the United States will be fine" (a testament to how great this country is and our system of checks and balances) and it's twisted into a "black thang".

    Y'all better watch out whitey! WE GOT SOMETHING PLANNED! *cue menacing music*

    Yeah right...
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    It's not that you "got something planned". It's that Obama doesn't. That's the problem.

    Once again we have yet another example of an Obamabot pulling up race and using it to belittle people into voting for Obama, in spite of what's behind the skin color.

    Frankly, this reverse racism is getting a little old. Our country is in dire straights and the GOP is hoping we dems will get caught in the race-card whirlpool so that we won't notice them starting to drop cliffhangers about sex scandals and the like.

    You have done ALL your homework on Obama, right T_Steel? Tell me your homework didn't consist of putting a brown paint color key up to your TV screen to see if his skin was dark enough to win your endorsement? Reassure me. Tell me you looked into his political career and track record in Chicago, with respect to your fellow minorities trying to run against him? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-07...

    Tell me you've done all the homework on Sinclair, not only on if YOU think the story is true, but if you think vast throngs of TV-viewers (the ones the dems need to win) will think it's true when the story is painted out this way by the GOP http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/331...

    Please tell me that a democrat making it to the Oval Office is more important than a skin color making it there?
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    This was an article on how fast people will turn on you for taking sides or making comments deemed "controversial" to your side. T-Steel was obviously only commenting on how some of the Hot Air readers *included* brain bending racial comments into the process of throwing Condi under the bus as soon as she said anything not "pure enough" to the GOP cause.

    Sil, we all try to be tolerant of your single issue agenda here and let you have your say, but could you please not denigrate everyone else with your Obama hatred? Or if you must, could you please at least do it on the same topic the rest of us are discussing? This was a post about Angelina Jolie and how public figures can pay a price for involving themselves in the political wars.
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    Thank you Jazz. Sheesh Sil. You sure know how to make a mountain out of a molehill! And to answer your question "Please tell me that a democrat making it to the Oval Office is more important than a skin color making it there?", my answer is: I'm still a member of the Green Party (Love Clemente, Hate McKinney). Democrat... Republican... eh... Same thing. Now us Greens, we crazy cool!
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    I will hereby declare war on T-Steel and his greenies on behalf of the Libertarians!

    Why do readers always assume that every author here is either a Republican or a Democrat? Did you look at the blog title?
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    I don't see race as having anything to do with Jolie's "choice"; Hollywood loves Obama and I figure someone like Jolie is suitable for the Dem convention in any year, but definitely in Obama's case, and she can just announce her "choice" in a prime-time speech at that convention. [grin]

    Where is Sheryl Crow or some other pop stars to provide the music? A lively Dem convention is a bigger circus than any Super Bowl.
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    "When they endorse candidates or make controversial remarks they put at least a portion of their potential income on the line."

    I don't think that Jolie would be making controversial remarks. If her goal is human rights and aid to children around the world I think she would choose a candidate to highlight these worthy goals. Now some people (public figures and the average Joe) say they're going to vote for someone to be controversial and like the attention they receive by endorsing a candidate and making controversial remarks. But I think Jolie has a better and more sensible head on her shoulders.
 
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