Jeb Bush, Jimmy Carter and the "Please Clap" Moment
Due to the curious nature of my career I have seen Oliver Stone’s muddled 2008 biopic W. no less than three times, when there’s no reason for anyone to see it all, let alone multiple times.
I first saw W. in a preview screening at the time of its release because it was an important movie by a major filmmaker that had the potential to transcend film and even pop culture altogether, and become bona fide news like Stone’s JFK.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate, if less generous, to say that it was an “important” film by a “major” filmmaker because it sure felt like an underwhelming, instantly dated glorified television movie the first time I saw it.
I next wrote about it for My World of Flops, and it felt like a pointless period piece despite documenting the very recent past. I saw it a third and, I sincerely hope, final time recently for a project where I watched all of Oliver Stone’s movies for a very kind patron, an experience that only strengthened my already strong conviction that Oliver Stone fucking sucks and I hate his movies.
I don’t hate all of them, of course, just the vast majority of them. There are many elements of W. that have aged terribly but nothing in it feels more egregiously off and ridiculous to 2023 audiences than its depiction of Jeb Bush, the brother of its subject, as the golden boy of the Bush family, an intimidating winner so impressive that his brother, a two-term President of the United States, could never hope to live up to the impossible standard he set.
History, of course, already remembers Jeb Bush much different. If people think about him at all, which is a very big if, it’s as the low-energy loser who lost to Donald Trump in a way that destroyed his once formidable political capital and turned him into a joke, a walking punchline.
Jeb Bush’s legacy will ultimately not be getting elected President or making the GOP more friendly to Hispanics. No, his legacy will ultimately come down to two words: “Please clap.”
Those are the sad, exhausted, way too relatable words he delivered during a campaign stop that quickly went viral because they’re painfully hilarious and hilariously painful and reduced Jeb’s Eeyore-like essence to a two word plea as poignant as it was pathetic.
That’s unfortunately how it works with politicians deemed losers although the American political landscape is so brutal that politicians are often considered losers if they fail to succeed in getting the most important job in the world.
Take Howard Dean. The man accomplished a great deal as a doctor and then as a Vermont Governor and the Chair of the Democratic National Committee. But do we remember his medical background or stewardship of the Democratic Party? No, we do not. We just remember that he yelled once in a way that seemed a little unhinged and somehow rendered him unelectable.
Look at Michael Dukakis. He was a good man and a smart man but his legacy will be looking silly inside a tank and Willie Horton.
Unlike Jeb Bush, Howard Dean and Michael Dukakis, Jimmy Carter actually got elected to the top office in the land, although only for a single term.
If Carter had died in 1985 there’s a pretty good chance that his legacy would largely be embarrassing. He’d be remembered as the guy who lost to the star of Bedtime for Bonzo despite literally being a nuclear scientist.
And we’d lovingly remember Carter’s many missteps and verbal blunders. We’d remember that weird anecdote where he said he had been attacked by a crazed rabbit while relaxing in a flat bottom boat.
Carter would similarly be remembered for saying, in a Playboy interview, "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart” and what became known as the Malaise speech.
Thankfully Jimmy Carter did not die in 1985. He went on to have the greatest post-presidency of any Commander in Chief. He has devoted his life to selflessly serving humanity, with his mind but also with his hands through his work for Habitat for Humanity.
When Carter dies, which unfortunately will be very soon, he will be remembered as a great American who served Christ through his selfless actions and not through self-serving words.
Carter had to accomplish borderline superhuman feats in order to escape being reduced to his biggest gaffes and most embarrassing moments.
That’s not fair but I can’t see it changing any time soon. It’s impossible to understand people in all of their complexity, but it sure is easy to reduce them to their biggest mistakes and most memorable blunders.
I’m on Subtack now! Check out https://nathanrabin.substack.com/ for my brand spanking new newsletter, Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas!
Buy the 516 page Sincere Movie Cash-In Edition of The Weird Accordion to Al AND get a free coloring book for just 20 dollars, shipping and taxes included, at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop and get a free copy of The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Cynical Movie Cash-in Edition free!
Pre-order The Fractured Mirror, the Happy Place’s next book, a 600 page magnum opus about American films about American films illustrated by the great Felipe Sobreiro over at https://the-fractured-mirror.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
The Joy of Trash, the Happy Place’s first non-"Weird Al” Yankovic-themed book is out! And it’s only 12.00, shipping, handling and taxes included, 23 bucks for two books, domestic only at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al here and The Weird Accordion to Al here
Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace
Y’all know my steez: I make my living largely through Patreon so if you would consider throwing in even a dollar a month over at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace