I used to think Barack Obama was reenacting “Liar Liar.” Now he seems to be going for “Yes Man.”
Those are not the only Jim Carrey movies that come to mind when thinking about Obama, though. When he said the seas would cease to rise when he became president, he sounded like “Bruce Almighty.” And when he did his surreal comedy shtick about weaning this country off carbon-based fuels in 10 years, the idea was as bizarre as Andy Kaufman, the “Man on the Moon.”
Jim Carrey and Barack Obama have a lot in common, besides being almost the same age (Obama was born in August 1961, Carrey in January 1962) and having a dazzling smile. Each has the kind of middle name seemingly installed by parents who wanted their kids to be beaten (“Eugene,” “Hussein”). Both of them are outsiders, men who came out of an appendix to America. Carrey is from Canada, Obama from Hawaii. Both knew what they wanted to be from the start; as a kindergartner, Obama wrote an essay about why he wanted to be president. At age 10, Carrey sent his resume to Carol Burnett.
Being outsidery turned out to be an asset for both of them when it came to making friends. Obama was the first black guy to head the Harvard Law Review; Carrey was the only white guy on “In Living Color.”
Obama ran his campaign like another lawyer – the one Jim Carrey plays at the beginning of “Liar, Liar.” Carrey spoke entirely in double-talk and so did Obama, at least if his fans are to be believed. He said he was in favor of wiretapping terrorists, but his fans thought he was lying. He said he was against gay marriage, but his fans thought he was lying. He promised to ratchet up the war in Afghanistan, maybe even by invading Pakistan, and his fans thought he was lying. He said he wouldn’t allow a nuclear Iran, and his fans thought he was lying.
“Yes we can” was a clue, though, wasn’t it? Obama likes to stay affirmative, even when that makes no sense. Whatever side you’re on, it’s cool. That’s why he told Fortune, paraphrasing Calvin Coolidge, “I still believe that the business of America is business.” Yet in that public service forum at Columbia University in September, he said, “part of my job, I think, as president, is to make government cool again.” Businessmen don’t think government is cool, and bureaucrats think the business of America is regulation.
In his November “60 Minutes” interview he said “our basic principle” was “that government has a role to play in kick-starting an economy that has ground to a halt.” Then he said “our basic principle that this is a free market system and that that has worked for us … that’s a principle that we’ve gotta hold to as well.” Is Obama a Calvin Coolidge kind of guy? Yes. Is he a Paul Krugman kind of guy? Yes.
So – keep taxes down for the rich? Yes. More spending for construction workers? Yes.
Is Obama going to clean out Clintonism and find a new way forward? Yes. But will he bring back everybody who worked with Clinton? Yes.
Bail out the auto industry to please the unions? Yes. Allow their failing CEOs to keep paying themselves millions to please Wall Street? Yes. But promise not to write a blank check to please everyone else? Yes.
Is foreign policy a top priority? Bank regulation? Economic stimulus? Energy independence? Stopping global warming? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Does he sympathize with Israel or the Palestinians of the Gaza strip? Yes!
One reason the “Yes Man” movie doesn’t work is bankruptcy. Jim Carrey’s character would quickly find himself destitute if he wrote checks to every charity, bought every special offer, invested in every amazing opportunity. It’s a little different for Obama, since we’re the ones who get to pay for his sunny affirmations. Yes, we can have trillion-dollar deficits.