THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT

Victor Bloom MD

"The American President" is a modern-day fairy tale. The fantasy is that Bill Clinton is a widower and finally gains backbone. We are well rid of witch-Hillary, who haunted health care reform, bringing about its ultimate defeat. The next first-lady is Annette Bening, beautiful, intelligent, tough, strong and vulnerable. True-love finds its way into the White House with a kiss in the "dish-room" (aka the China Room). He invites her to a White House party. They dance. All eyes are on them. All the world loves a lover. She stays overnight. It is a scandal. They try not to care about the slings and the arrows.

In this true-love fantasy, the liberals are good and the conservatives are bad. Bob Reiner (aka--- "meat-head") desperately wants us to re-elect President Clinton. He tells us we must pass a strong environmental bill and a meaningful crime bill. Annette Benning is the ultimate good lobbyist. Despite the fact that she gets paid well, even better than the president, she is good and true, capable of love and vulnerable as well. We can be charmed right up to the voting booth. Fact is, the Republicans do not have a good candidate. Clinton appears to be a shoo-in, now that he has made himself a world statesman and Commander-in-Chief.

Chelsea is charming and plays the trombone. She likes Annette Benning. (Annette Bening likes her). She likes her dad. She tells him to "go for it". When he was young, he loved Hillary, but now he is older and wiser and motivated by love. That is why we will have world peace. Fairyland is our Christmas present and working toward Utopia will be our New Year's Resolution.

Bob Reiner has given us this fairy tale for a Christmas gift and a re-election goal for the New Year. We mustn't disappoint him. We must not take this film to be mere holiday fluff. The meaning of it goes deeper. We can finally identify with the folks in the White House. They are just like us, or (the next best thing), just like Hollywood stars. They are elegant and beautiful; they are down-home stuff; they want to do the right thing. They want to be responsible to us, to the environment, they want to be ethical and moral, have integrity and character. They want to earn their position as role-models; they are approachable, affordable, even wonderful.

It is no longer 'politics-as-usual'; they Beltway will never be the same again. The president sticks to his principles, and is loyal to his true-love and to what America needs--- a meaningful environmental and crime-bill. The Congress stands up and applauds; the country is united again, we have reason to be proud of our country and its government.

The king and queen return to their castle in Air Force One after a love-tryst in Camp David, and they live happily ever after, protected by the Secret Service.