The need for strong and stable government may be the driving force behind the Lib/Con coalition government, but in Woody Allen’s world, such democratic virtues are simply barriers that a good, old-fashioned dictator should be smashing his way through at present.
Such is Allen’s relentless support for Barack Obama, he told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia that he was “pleased with Obama”, to the point whereby “the Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.”
There’s nothing too screwball in that, but going on to suggest “it would be good if he could be a dictator for a few years, because he could do a lot of good things quickly” has made Woody somewhat unpopular with, presumably, the same people who took umbrage to his defence of Roman Polanski, marriage to Soon-Yi Previn and longstanding view of life being divided into the horrible and the miserable. In essence, we’re talking about the American Right, which, as Barack Obama is slowly discovering, is quite the indomitable foe.
Presumably, it was his own anticipated move toward a dictatorship failing to materialise on Capitol Hill that drove Woody Allen to shoot his last four movies in London, or perhaps he confused the 'brusque' and 'determined' style of our former leader for some sort of autocracy
While Obama struggles gainfully with immigration issues, bomb plots, Israel, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, BP, fiscal woes, healthcare reform and Sarah Palin amongst other things, his people are beginning to show distinct signs of anti-Washington sentiment.
Establishment figures from both the Republican and Democrat parties have been comprehensively beaten in the Senate primary elections held during the early part of this week, with the scalp of former Republican big-hitter Arlen Specter becoming the standout 'Portillo' moment.
Specter, who quit the Republicans to run in the Democrat primary, was given a televised endorsement by Obama himself, only to be defeated by 'ordinary' Joe Sestak. This is the equivalent of Jack Straw being taken out by Esther Rantzen.
Moreover, the anti-establishment, Tea Party-backed Rand Paul comfortably polled ahead of another senate-groomed certainty, Trey Grayson, in Kentucky. It would appear that being affiliated with the White House is something of the proverbial kiss of death right now.
Presumably, it was his own anticipated move toward a dictatorship failing to materialise on Capitol Hill that drove Woody Allen to shoot his last four movies in London, or perhaps he confused the “brusque” and “determined” style of our former leader for some sort of autocracy. Either way, manoeuvring around his political malaise was easy for Woody Allen, but for Barack Obama, the solution may not be so simple.
