Running for re-election: Mel Gibson and Barack Obama.

Let's start with the man once known as Mad Max and Martin Riggs: I wish Alan Nierob or someone in Mel Gibson's agency/management/PR camp had begged Mel not to go on Jay Leno's THE TONIGHT SHOW.  The kerfluffle over Joe Eszterhas' self-serving reveal of Mel-in-anger-again had quieted, and it did Gibson no good to go out and spin his version of the Eszterhas problems (mainly Eszterhas' alleged underwork on a screenplay).  It just made Mel look churlish and smug, even with Jay doing his best to kiss Mel's posterior by whining about Eszterhas' violation of Mel's "privacy" by going public.  Then, there was the sad spectacle of Mel Gibson plugging what's now his first film to completely bypass U.S. theatrical release for a combination satellite TV/DVD unveiling (complete with underwhelming clip of Mel doing a Clint Eastwood imitation-by-phone to fellow actor Bob Gunton).  Since Jay has lowered the bar for plugs-by-guests, perhaps Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal can now promote direct-to-video movies on THE TONIGHT SHOW.

Now, our President (Barack Obama) is again cynically treating his re-election as a chess game of checkmate-the-GOP by touting the killing of Osama bin Laden in an unseemly manner.  It's one thing to show some solemn gravitas when the death of a (or, one might say, THE) major terrorist leader is announced--but it's quite another when bin Laden's death is turned into another campaign talking point (remembering that the Davis Guggenheim-directed, Tom Hanks-narrated re-election featurette film kicked off this effort a little while back).  To be honest, this seems to be only two steps away from releasing photos of bin Laden's corpse--something that, thankfully, never happened.  And it doesn't reflect well on Obama, Joe Biden, David Axelrod and Jim Messina (the re-election leader, not the former musical partner of Kenny Loggins) to keep up this distasteful effort to win "swing" voters by showing "toughness."

A lot of us voted for Obama the first time around because he was/is smart--and in 2008 gave the illusion of being a JFK/RFK for our times.

Most likely, the 2012 election will be a replay of Bill Clinton's slam-dunk 1996 re-election--though there will be a great deal of coordinated dog-whistle racism, classism, and you're-a-Commie mudslings from certain high-level Republicans, their financial providers and their media propaganda arms.

But it must be pointed out that at his core Obama is the same kind of moderate Republican as Mitt Romney--and blind-faith supporters of Obama must be prepared for more of the same just-mild-at-best social programs along with more bloodless decision-making (drone warfare and its collateral-damage deaths won't go away) and let-them-off-easy treatment of Wall Street thievery/greed (not to mention pandering to pro-fracking and oil-sands interests regardless of long-term environmental damage).

Safe to guess, though, that four more years of an unwilling-to-change-and-be-who-he-sold-himself-as-in-2008 Obama will be more appealing to many than watching Mitt Romney pretend to be Ronald Reagan on the outside and governing like George H.W. Bush on the inside.

Robert Downey Jr. uses American Cinematheque awards ceremony to make a case for forgiving Mel Gibson's sins.

http://www.eonline.com/news/marc_malkin/robert_downey_jr_shocker_we_need/269703

Adding this to the above:
1.Given the meet-the-press history of Mr. Gibson's last two films (EDGE OF DARKNESS, THE BEAVER), it may take some huge behavioral remodeling for Mel not to either bristle at reporters' attempts to question/bait (EDGE) or opt for the specially-selected-"pet"-writer who will merely write down carefully-prepared PR responses (THE BEAVER).
2.  I don't know if Mel's prepared to say something like this--"Hey, I'm in my mid-50s, and like many others in my generation, I grew up with prejudices about people with different religious beliefs and same-sex desires. And I acted like a bigoted fool and said hateful things in interviews and to everyday people as well.  I'm sorry I've hurt people around me--including those I've loved and continue to love--and now realize that it's never too late to make changes."
3. Or this: "You know, I'm in my mid-50s, and I've not always been physically or verbally respecful when it comes to relationships with women.  I want to avoid repeating my mistakes in the future."
4.  Or this: "I'm in my mid-50s, and I'm aware the business is changing and may leave me behind.  I'd still like a few big paydays, but I may have to get used to either a full-time career as director or playing occasional high-profile supporting roles like Russell Crowe is doing now as Superman's Superdad."

Mel Gibson gets the sympathetic interview that he wants on the eve of THE BEAVER's release.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/exclusive-mel-gibson-finally-talks/

From the DEADLINE intro: I opted to give Gibson's interview to Deadline because editors at other media outlets seemed inclined to use this story to pursue their own agendas.--Allison Hope Weiner


Guessing that Mel and publicist Alan Nierob were terrifically happy with this interview.


A highlight:
WEINER: People didn’t understand how you could say the things you did on these tapes.  They wondered, what kind of person says those things.  Right now, many people think you’re a racist and that you hate women from listening to those tapes.
GIBSON: I’ve never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality -- period. I don’t blame some people for thinking that though, from the garbage they heard on those leaked tapes, which have been edited.  You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship. It’s one terribly, awful moment in time, said to one person, in the span of one day and doesn’t represent what I truly believe or how I’ve treated people my entire life.

Here's a rebuttal to the interview from David Poland of THE HOT BLOG:
http://moviecitynews.com/2011/04/the-end-of-days-april-21-2011/