“Go ahead, make my day”

Clint Eastwood’s “un-conventional” convention speech works. His analogy via performance is sublime.

For those of you who didn’t see, Mr. Eastwood-- willing to adopt the role of charming, yet bitter old man--spoke and performed before an audience at the RNC political convention last night. His take was a refreshing display of simplicity in a political world where the grand and complex is favored.

But the particular part that has drawn out so many opinions was Eastwood’s conversation with an imaginary President Obama sitting in an empty chair. I’ve heard detractors and doubters from both ends of the political spectrum express confusion, loathing, and a general attitude of looking down their nose at Eastwood’s unusual performance. Shallow thought might lead you to doubt his seriousness or even his sanity. But I ask you to consider it as though I believe it should: a pointed satire.

We have an imaginary President.

To consider the last three-and-a-half years a successful presidency is to suspend reality. Frankly, you’d have a pretty vivid imagination. Further, Obama seems to be a legend in his own mind. He’s created a make-believe narrative in which spending money we don’t have, amassing debts that cannot be re-paid, and imposing the will of the Federal state over the freedom of individuals are all things to be praised and celebrated. He further urges voters to willfully neglect the facts of his failures and forget his broken promises.  To consider Obama a President of any worthwhile success, one must use all of their imagination in inventing reasons to like the job he’s done. He’s an amateur; an imaginary president at best.

And the boss’s chair is empty.

The office of the president demands many things; chief among them is leadership. Obama’s fondness of buying votes with the public treasure, submitting laughable budgets to Congress, and spouting divisive rhetoric comprise an unrivaled record of incompetent leadership. And now, in this American hour of angst and distress, we need leadership most. It seems that Americans have the sense that nobody’s minding the store. And they’re right. Their Commander-in-Chief was busy making healthcare a bureaucratic nightmare, killing U.S. citizens with drone strikes, and hosting Hollywood fundraisers while Rome is burning.

I loved Eastwood’s take on Obama’s empty-chair, imaginary presidency. An election between such a clear disappointment and a man who can’t seem to fail in his pursuits shouldn’t be this close. Maybe for more years of amateur hour at the White House will really wake people up. So vote for Obama, go ahead and make my day.