Last week we reported that President Obama met with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the White House. We don’t usually see Obama and celebrities in the same sentence but he did attract a huge stock of Hollywood stars 4 years ago in his last election phase..today we learn that The President is looking to bring back “star power” to his re-election campaign. Can you guess who is on his ‘wish list’ this time?
Last time around, Obama created a campaign which attracted the support of many celebrities, this was the first time we had seen this kind of political campaign, a younger, cooler style of campaigning, one that uses stars as “surrogates and activists.”
This time, Obama’s ‘list’ of fave stars was made public on Thursday. Not everyone on the list intend on being involved, however it is more interesting for us to see who he chooses…
There are apparently 190 names on the list, which is quite a lot, and a number of those were strong supporters last election cycle: will.i.am, Jay-Z, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Eva Longoria, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Olivia Wilde.
It seems some people did make it to the list but are not happy about it – country band Lady Antebellum’s publicist said that they were surprised to see the group on the list, and that “the band has never commented on their political affiliations nor do they plan to in the future.” Hmmm….
Some people are surprised that certain stars have been left off the Obama ‘wish list.’ The main name that is being thrown around is Matt Damon… he was one of the big campaigners for Obama in 2008 but has become a “vocal critic” of his educational and Wall Street policies more recently.
I think this is so interesting to see which celebs Obama ‘likes’ and which he doesn’t, it is also a little humorous. In my opinion it pretty obviously comes down to which stars support him and his policies and which don’t. You can see from his decision to exclude Matt Damon from the list. It is not about which actors or personalities he admires the most at all, or who he thinks is the most talented. Some I understand…Jay-Z and Oprah Winfrey I see, but I have to say I’m surprised by the choice of Eva Longoria and Sarah Jessica Parker…thoughts?
Yeah..Let’s concentrate on his celebrity friends since it seems so important to him..I can’t wait until the President of the freaking United States goes on Leno again..Geebus..And don’t even get me started on the people who are stupid enough to listen to their favorite celebrites and follow along blindly..Oi..I hate politics and everyone associated with them.. ;)
This is NOT the first time we have seen this kind of campaigning. Rock the Vote, anyone? Bill Clinton is arguably the first to rub elbows with the Hollywood elite Democrats, but this has been going on for a LONG time. Ben Affleck alone has been covering the Democratic National Convention and campaigning heavily for over a decade!
Yeah, I remember John Kerry having a HUGE celebrity following when he ran in ’04.
This is basically a re-write of the HuffPo article you linked to. I’d love to know more about the list itself, i.e., did Obama actually publish it or is it speculation? The whole idea of the POTUS having a list like this just looks terrible IMHO.
I agree with sars. I need to know more about the list. It looks terrible that the President thinks enough people are stupid enough to be swayed by what celebrities think or say and not the issues but then again….there are quite a few people who take the lives and opinions of celebrities WAY too seriously.
Exactly what I was thinking…SJP and Longoria? WTF. Sorry but they’re not exactly folks that I’d follow wrt to politics or anything else for that matter. Esp Longoria. She not only seems like an idiot but her star power is fading and very fast. I can’t stand her.
But on second thought, Obama is very smart for picking those women. There WILL be those vapid women who’ll follow them like they follow a new color of lipstick they’re pushing for Loreal.
I’m really not trying to mean, but you need to get a thesaurus instead of taking words and phrases directly from your sources. It makes it seem like you don’t care. Trent puts direct quotes in white so we know it’s not his own words.
I really don’t like the idea of celebrities getting involved with election campaigns (or in this case, politicians involving celebrities in their campaigns) because it causes a lot of people who don’t actually study the political platforms to just vote for a candidate that’s popular with a celebrity. What those people don’t realize is – the candidate that’s good for a multi-billionaire celebrities isn’t necessarily a candidate that’s good for the average American.