A Little Less Cowboy, A Little More Jimmy

Back in 2003 my brother, a two-fisted Republican and proud Conservative, remarked that President Bush was “a real cowboy, a guy that can get the job done.” Six years later my brother indirectly regrets the claim in the same way the former President regrets making the “bring them on” bravado aimed at the terrorists putting our proud men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in greater peril by sparking more anger toward the United States. In hindsight we can honestly say Bush ain’t no John Wayne. Then again John Wayne wasn’t John Wayne, but a product of the power of the cinema and a nation’s need for a true American hero merging. In 2009 we have a new President. This time whereas President Bush’s Western persona (by way of Yale) was embedded in our minds by his election campaign and Fox News, a new figure has emerged from the movie classics, Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey and Jefferson Smith.

Yesterday President Obama held another in a long series of town hall meetings with ordinary citizens in Costa Mesa, California, in the heart of the Republican stronghold of Orange County. All the while he spoke I kept picturing George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life” trying to calm the panicked customers of his father’s building and loan company urging them not to take out their money. Perhaps it was the message of faith and patience from Mr. Obama that conjured up the parallels, or perhaps that physically both James Stewart and Barack Obama share the same lanky build. Even the former Senator from Illinois’ rise in Washington mirrors that of Jefferson Smith in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Both men emerged out of nowhere, captured the pessimistic press with their common sense and folksy approach to get their messages across and championed the working people. But unlike other politicians, both Smith and Obama seemed to really mean it.
That is to say that Bailey, Smith and Obama are not perfect but if something is not right one gets a sense that they will listen and try to find a solution instead of continuing in the wrong direction.

Jefferson Smith and George Bailey represent the high ideals Americans hold for themselves and for their country. In Smith we find a pure innocence and in Bailey we find a righteous man struggling to survive in a not-so-kind world where in the end he realizes that wealth is not as important as the friends you have. Do these virtues exist in 2009?
Only time will tell. If President Obama holds true to his ideals and campaign promises, who is to say that we can’t keep this country from becoming Cheneyville?