If the Democrats want the president to halt his run for re-election, Nancy Pelosi’s approach seems much likelier to bring Biden on board than George Clooney’s.
I love George Clooney. As an actor. As a director. As an activist, tequila producer and Nespresso spokesman. I would consider him a friend, if I knew him, and I believe in him. He has a place on Lake Como and a private island in the Thames, for heaven’s sake. Clearly, he’s doing something right.
That does not, however, extend to his opinion piece published Wednesday in the New York Times that calls on President Biden to drop out of the election campaign and allow the Democrats to select a new nominee. As with Clooney’s decision to play Batman in 1997, he probably should have passed.
No doubt the star is sincere in his concern that Biden is not up to defeating Donald Trump in November (though the fact that this argument comes mere weeks after Clooney held a huge fundraiser for him is a bit weird). Nor is he alone in that concern. In light of the president’s disastrous performance in his June 27 debate with Trump, many columnists, pundits, donors, celebrities and politicians, including some of Biden’s former supporters in the House and Senate, are arguing the same thing.
And perhaps they are all right. I’m just not sure what Clooney thought he was going to add to the howling discourse. Yes, he’s an outspoken Democrat who has campaigned for, and financially supported, Democratic candidates in a big way. But in the public’s eye, he is first and foremost a movie star.
Which is precisely why his guest essay is getting so much attention — “Clooney breaks his silence” ran one rather hilarious headline, as if we had all been waiting in breathless anticipation for his take.
