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My W and Oliver Stone's
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Sidney Ray Baldwin/Lionsgate
Scott McClellan, Bush's estranged former press secretary, on what the movie nails (his stubbornness and his relationship with his father)—and what it screws up.
Many months ago, I came to grips with the fact that the Bush presidency did not turn out the way many of us who went to work for him had hoped. Maybe that’s why the initial strangeness of Oliver Stone’s W. quickly dissipated. Just like any other movie I might go see, I soon was leaning back in my chair with an open mind ready to be entertained. It was not long before Stone’s perspective on what happened piqued my curiosity.
If there is anything the 41st and 43rd presidents have in common, it is their shared contempt for psychoanalysis, or being put on the couch. Yet there are few things more important when choosing a president than looking beyond the candidates’ elaborately crafted political façades to understand what really drives them and makes them tick.
I won’t go as far as to borrow a line from Bush 43 and say, “Heck of a job, Stonie.” But I will borrow one from Bush 41 and say, “It’s good, not bad.”
The father-son dynamic Oliver Stone explores throughout W. is what I found most intriguing about his biopic. As the movie intermittingly flashes from past to present, the audience sees how the formative, early adult years of W (ably played by Josh Brolin) and the strained relationship with his father (James Cromwell) eventually come to shape his decision-making and governing style inside the White House, mostly as it relates to Iraq. The carefree young Bush inspires little confidence and much disappointment in the father, who disdains his son’s wild socializing, lack of intellectual vigor, and aimless drifting from job-to-job.
With competitive zeal, Bush sets out to outperform Poppy by learning from his political shortcomings. But his obsessive desire to achieve greatness pushes W to overreach, pursuing an idealistic and ambitious vision of defining his legacy by the spread of freedom in the Middle East that proves to be nothing but an elusive dream. In the end, the once cocksure president is left struggling to come to grips with reality.
That’s the story told by the film. But is it true? Here’s the judgment of one person who saw many—not all—of the real events as they unfolded.
At best, Stone’s interpretation is educated conjecture. He takes plenty of liberties with the facts, a story-telling strategy he considers justified in order to get at larger truths in a 2-hour movie. As a result, the real-life complexities of the characters and events are left unexplored.
The extent to which George W. Bush was driven by a desire to earn his father’s respect remains unknown. Getting inside someone’s head is not easy, even more so when it involves a member of the protective Bush clan. Those private father-son moments were just that—private—and neither 41 or 43 nor any other family member who might have been nearby has cared to share any insights into the relationship.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Justice Clinton?
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
kagua2
The ads for the movie have me cracking up. I told a friend today that Bush will go down in history as the most unpopular president ever. I plan on seeing it wearing my "Obama '08" T shirt.
theblender
Who'd a thought, truth from a WH Press Secretary for 43? Is it?
sophielago
the half dozen reviews I've just read leave me wondering if Oliver Stone understands the lasting effects of starting to drink at an early age. Typically, the alcohol abuser gets emotionally "stuck" at the age when the abuse started, and that can last for a long time, during and after recovery. Of course, it doesn't seem that W. ever went in to a recovery program, and so much of his behavior is that of a cocky adolescent. That seems to me to be at least as important as the father relationship.
milkbone
I lost my copy of JHK so maybe i'll wait for netflix.I'm hopeing the next great biography will be "O"
sandman
roooth
Scottie, you're like a man who thought he was mute and who has suddenly discovered that he can not only speak, but he can sing beautifully.
Your whole face has changed since you woke up from your time in Purgatory. You went from every muscle in your face looking clenched and pasty to looking relaxed, healthy and even happy.
Telling the truth is so liberating, isn't it?
GlobalGramma
While Bush might not be a simpleton in the literal sense of the word, his conduct has been. His intellectual laziness, incapacity or unwillingness to engage in complex thought or to demand any kind of personal rigor have securely left the nation at the direction and under the complete control of Cheney.
Ruthless Cheney. Puppet Bush. Now for the aftermath...and whatever clean-up is even possible.
I can only hope that history will document who has been the acting President during the two terms of the Administration and that it will take them both fully to account.
It's difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a worse President than George W / Cheney have been at every level of functioning. Nothing, absolutely redeeming. An unjustified, pre-emptive war that was unrelated to the causes of 9/11, that has intensified terrorism, that was sold with lies, which has left Iran the dominant power in the Middle East and Al Qaeda rising in Afganistan. Torture. Blatant and wholesale selling off of government functioning to the highest bidder. And the capstone: an economic meltdown, with 53 trillion in unmet liabilities waiting to bury us all and swallow the future whole.
But the wealthiest of the wealthy had their tax breaks ... and they pandered to the Christian base, so what the hell!
zerlenga
the tragedy that we americans elected Bush. and the brutal ignorance about the lethal nature of islam before 9/11 is it not only of Bush. let see if the daily beast has the courage to write about the despicable regime of saudi arabia.
mike157
I can hardly wait to see how OS portrays the current democratic congress in his next movie. What? A 15% approval rating is not low enough to make them worthy subject matter. Unfair!
cstuple
Is everyone on this thread on Obama's campaign team? ...you're all singing the same talking points I hear on MSNBC every day. How about some original thoughts for a change?
Johnnorth
I know what cstuple means about the thread but I've found Beast more "fair and balanced" than the hysterical MSNBC. Loved McCain's line at the Al Smith roast about the padded cell that will be needed, if he wins after all, for over-the-top Olberman
shieldvulf
Ah, cstuple! Just because Republicans can't agree on anything anymore doesn't mean the rest of us can't move into the future in enlightened comity! Y'all go on with your cartoonish bellyaching, but please try to keep the noise down, OK? The grownups are busy restoring America's promise.
And, btw, why is it that those who complain about MSNBC being extreme never cite anything statement in particular? Is it because their problem is with the startling extremity of fact and reason? I know how upsetting clarity can be when one is used to wallowing in the mud.
Oh, and I'm always happy to see Mr. McClellan doing honest work. I thought then he was used and lied to when at the White House. No one could have said such things with such a straight face unless he believed they were true.
Nice review, too!
Baldirg
There is no mystery as to why Oliver Stone is releasing his politically motivated film at this juncture. In Hollywood, timing is everything. The intent is transparent.
WhimsicalLagniappe
Wow. . .candor. . .what a novel idea!
I must admit. I love President George W. Bush. I mean by-golly, I voted for him. . .twice! He reminds me of all the Daddy's that would come by the sorority house when I was in college at Ole Miss. They were the well dressed old money Delta Dad's that would swoop into Oxford, take all your friends to dinner, make ya mint juleps in The Grove and talk out their rear ends about business, politics and the stock market (all subjects that not a one has much proficiency).
But. . .I digress. I voted for The Pres because. . .well. . .I would like to have a beer (or mint julep) with the guy. Intellectual accumen be darned. Just like those well dressed Daddy's that still call their wive's "darlin'," who took us to nice dinners and bought us bourbon, I liked him. I trusted him. He got my vote.
Shame on me.
Lesson learned. I still would love to have a beer with the guy, but for my next presidential ballot, I think I will casting my vote for someone with a bit less charm and gumption and a bit more discernment.
ahgandhi2
look forward to this one..
TexanJane
Hey Scott, I saw your mom the other day at the vet's and told her I was proud of what you (finally) did, coming clean on Bush. She beamed with pride at my praise.
I was sorry later that I hadn't then asked her if she's come back from the Dark Side.
Great review here. You're redeeming yourself everyday.
Thank you.
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