Fact Beats Fiction
I saw Man of the Year today, which was a bit of a disappointment. It seemed to me that the story was more about the electronic voting machines and the accompanying scandal than about Robin Williams' character. I had just read about how a vendor of voting machines used in Colorado is owned by a Venezuelan company. There was a line in the movie, quoting someone else, something like "the difference between reality and fiction is that fiction must be credible". It's a bit more subtle than the events behind Primary Colors or Wag the Dog, probably too subtle to make a Hollywood story.
Man of the Year plays to this basic desire we have to be able to relate to our leaders. I think this is a dangerous preoccupation on the part of the voting public. I have no doubt that George W. Bush is an extremely personable and likeable man. I also think that has no correlation to how effective he's been as a President.