The results are in. And the winner for best comic performance of the year is .... Davis Guggenheim! for his appearance with CNN's Piers Morgan.
Guggenheim, the filmmaker who directed Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," has now put forward a "documentary" about President Obama entitled "The Road We've Traveled." The piece is a one-sided, syrupy love fest, not an unbiased, balanced report. Morgan pressed Guggenheim about the extremely subjective nature of the ad and Guggenheim's rose-tinted assessment of the president. He asked Guggenheim if he saw anything at all "negative" about Obama.
Guggenheim looked taken aback that anyone should ask such an outlandish question. He appeared quizzical, shook his head slowly and, straight-faced and without a hint of irony said he honestly couldn't find any fault with the president. Not one.
If you can believe it, Guggenheim apparently has no problem with:
1. Killing American citizens without a trial.
2. Governing against the will of the people (forcing citizens to buy health insurance over their objections).
3. Selling automatic weapons to Mexican drug lords.
4. Refusing to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
5. Suing states that do try to enforce U.S. immigration laws.
6. Doing everything possible to hinder domestic oil, gas and coal production, causing energy prices to "necessarily skyrocket."
7. Instead boosting foreign oil production, notably Brazil's.
8. "Investing" in green energy boondoggles like Solyndra.
9. $5 a gallon gas.
Critics on both sides of the political spectrum criticized Morgan's questions as either too soft or too harsh. I thought he did a good job pressing Guggenheim without being obnoxious. Guggenheim, on the other hand, looked plain silly, like a giggling teen-age girl swooning over a rock star.
The fluff piece places much emphasis on Obama's "bold" decision to take out Osama bin Laden. That was a tough decision? Let's see: Should we try to kill the terrorist mastermind who killed 3,000 innocent Americans? Or should we let him slide? Duh! Vice President Joe Biden's comments on the incident were especially offensive. The decision was so momentous, Biden said, because it could have spelled the end of Obama's presidency(!) No mention of putting the lives of the Navy Seals on the line -- Biden's main concern (and perhaps Obama's?) was Obama's political future.
Guggenheim missed his calling. He should be on the other side of the camera. He is an understated comic genius a la Charlie Chaplin.
