Curmudgeon's Corner

2016, Obama's America

Posted by Al Campbell on Aug. 27, 2012

U.S., Political, Economy, Employment, Quality of Life, People Making A Difference

The film 2016, Obama’s America is playing across America and has created quite a stir amongst Obama’s supporters and his detractors.  The film, a documentary, is well-constructed using interviews with various people who were in President Obama’s life at one or another points leading up to now coupled with clips of things that we witnessed in the 2008 campaign.

It is done in a very convincing and straight-forward fashion with simple ‘connect-the-dots’ logic that permits one to draw his or her own conclusions; those conclusions aren’t foisted upon you as were the conclusions in the hit films done by Michael Moore using his bombastic style.  This film is very laid back by comparison to Moore’s efforts, and that very simply adds to the believability factor.

My bride and I attended the showing on Sunday and were surprised at the number of people at the first showing which began at 12:15PM in the middle of heavy rains.  I would estimate that there were 150 in the audience.  I suspect that the average age of attendees was probably about 45-50 and the audience was evenly split between males and females.

There was not an utterance throughout the film, and there was almost complete silence as the audience made its way out of the theater.  It seemed that people were taken aback at what they had seen, and were thinking about the ramifications of the coming election against the backdrop created by the film.

There was nothing of a partisan tint in anything that was being said by the patrons; I couldn’t have told who was an Obama supporter or a Romney supporter.  I presume most of the attendees were not Obama supporters, but I would’ve expected more discussion from an audience of nearly 100% Romney supporters.

If the liberal press begins to attempt to destroy this picture, as seems to have already begun judging from blogs and commentary on some of the news sites that are decidedly liberal, we’ll have an idea of what they think the damage could be from this documentary.

I went in the door with my mind very much made up, and left the same way, BUT…I left with a deeper concern about the outcome even though I have been aware of the issues that were raised.  I am not someone who lives under a bushel basket.  If this had that kind of effect on me, I have to wonder at the effect on someone who entered the theater as an undecided voter.

This documentary could well have the effect of helping some in the ‘undecided’ middle make up their minds, and I suspect I know which way those minds would be thinking as the people walked from the theater.  If this was timed to hit the public as it decided whom it wanted in the White House, the timing was excellent.  President Obama has to be concerned in his heart of hearts, or he is a fool who takes the platitudes and assurances of his campaign staff too seriously.