Skip to main content

TV review: MSNBC's 'President of the World,' basking in Bill Clinton's afterglow



Valentine's Day was a week ago, but MSNBC's Chris Matthews has belatedly gifted a particular former president with a mash note - strike that, a one-hour special called "President of the World: The Bill Clinton Phenomenon," airing on the cable news channel Monday night.
Why? Because it's Presidents' Day. Also because it's been a full decade since Clinton left office, embarking on an epic quest to remain at the forefront of the celebripoliticomedia hive mind. Or, as Matthews reminds us much more than once: He is Everywhere.
"Bill Clinton's position in the world continues to grow. He's part dignitary, part humanitarian, part politician, part international statesman, and somehow, greater than them all," he intones.
For much of the hour, you'll wonder if you're watching one of Robert Smigel's old "X-Presidents" cartoon parodies for "Saturday Night Live." Matthews, aided by the likes of Terry McAuliffe, Mary Steenburgen and various biographers, remarks again and again how smart Clinton is, how generous, how famous, how friendly, how productive. Perhaps this special is some sort of MSNBC covert-op to cause paralytic apoplexy over there on the right? The kind of people who still keep the Starr Report at the ready?
There is no doubt that Clinton has busied himself in a number of worthy ways, especially when he heads toward human and natural disasters (wars, tsunamis, earthquakes, hostage crises) to raise relief funds or broker a solution. He loves the world and, as we see on many a tarmac and in convention halls and hotel lobbies hither and yon, the world still loves him back. The best part of the special is the story of how two American reporters who were arrested and held in North Korea in 2009 reacted when he showed up to rescue them: The door opened, there stood Bill Clinton, and they collapsed into his arms, weeping with relief.
The not-very-sub subtext of "President of the World" is a nostalgic grieving for the glory of the Clinton years. Matthews's special reminded me of a line from this season of "Glee," an exchange between Artie (the guy in the wheelchair) and Brittany (the uncannily dense cheerleader). Artie says, "I thought I was over someone, but I still think I have feelings for them."
The Clintons?" Brittany asks. Ever cooperative, Clinton grants Matthews interviews and permission to tag along for a few days. Nothing new is revealed or reflected upon, except how good he feels at 64, and what a charge he gets out of globe-trotting. We learn little of the partnerships and financial underpinnings of the nonprofit Clinton Global Initiative and its philanthropic offshoots. We get little insight into Clinton's daily life as a millionaire VIP.
The real story - glossed over and merely admired here - is how Clinton discovered previously uncharted territories of fame and motivates other celebrities to do their saintly best. There is also an unforgettable narrative about a marriage here, but the name Hillary Clinton barely comes up, except in the context of his role in her 2008 presidential campaign or how his travels often pave a way for her diplomatic efforts as (you may have heard) secretary of state.
"President of the World" triggers another thought: We need more time apart, him and us. Bill Clinton is too young - and too alive - for anyone to make a good one-hour special about, just yet. Matthews has merely made a promotional film for someone who isn't running for anything.
Comparisons are made to other X-Presidents (I somehow never knew Herbert Hoover oversaw European famine relief after World War II, but we've certainly seen Jimmy Carter lift cinder blocks), but finally we are told that there is no ideal job description for a former president. As seen here, everything is just afterglow.
President of the World: The Bill Clinton Phenomenon (one hour) airs Monday at 10 p.m. on MSNBC.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The bindweeds of Egypt and their symbolic role for the deceased

http://www.egyptraveluxe.com/cairo_half_day_tour_to_cairo_egyptian_museum.php From the Middle Kingdom until the 18th Dynasty, representations are found of a parasitic bindweed associated with the stems of papyrus, . Its representations increase and refine themselves during the Amarnian period because of the naturalistic leaning to nature; but it is in Ramesside times, and more particularly that of Ramesses II, that the images become more beautiful and most detailed. The plant is frequently attached to the stem of the papyrus, or to bouquets, but being also able to, more rarely, exist separately. After the 20th Dynasty, if the theme persists, the quality of the representations decrease (as do all more representations of nature). This success under the Ramesseses is probably linked with the specific beliefs of that time, and notably the eminent place that the solar cults occupy. The nature of the plant has been under debate a long time ...
Post a Comment
Read more

what exactly happened to the Sphinx's nose?

The Sphinx's Nose The nose of the Great Sphinx at Giza is made conspicuous by its absence. What happened to it? The popular story is that the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte used the nose for target practice in 1798. Drawings done for La Description de L'Egypte depict a noseless Sphinx. The Sphinx, 1743. In 1737, British traveler Richard Pococke visited Egypt and made a sketch of the Sphinx that was published six years later. The nose is shown intact, but Pococke likely exercised his poetic license by adding it when it was not there (earlier, in 1579, Johannes Helferich had further taken an artist's liberties by depicting the Sphinx with a nose -- and with decidedly female features). Frederick Lewis Norden, an artist and marine architect, also sketched the Sphinx in 1737. His detailed drawings, published in 1755, were more realistic and showed the Sphinx with no nose. It is very unlikely that Norden would omit the nose if it was present. We can conclude that the...
Post a Comment
Read more

US authorities return eight stolen ancient Egyptian artifacts

US authorities agreed to return eight ancient Egyptian artifacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. Today, upon his arrival from the United States, Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim announced that US authorities agreed to return eight ancient Egyptian artefacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. The objects are to arrive next month. The pieces include the upper part of a painted anthropoid wooden sarcophagus from the Third Intermediate period depicting a face of a woman wea ring a wig decorated with coloured flowers. Two linen mummy wrappings covered with plaster and bearing paintings showing winged amulets pushing the sun disc are also among the artefacts. Hieroglyphic text showing the name and titles of the deceased are also found on the plaster cover. The third piece is a cartonage painted mummy mask from the Third Intermediate period while the fourth and fifth items are Middle Kingdom wooden boats. The other three items are lim...
Post a Comment
Read more