I must admit, I was hesistant to do this diary for a couple of reasons. So I'm going to write this disclamer in front of it.
This post is partly in jest and partly a look into both candidates strengths and weaknesses in terms of how they are viewed. Being a big fan of both shows, I just really wanted to do this post. Please take no personal offense
With that out of the way, I wish to explore how these two politcal entities have a lot in common with their favorite shows and movies.
People in polictics have an almost unhealthy fascination with ganster movies and or gangster shows. You'll hear a Godfather reference or a mafia reference from some politician somewhere as it relates to a political opponent. Heck in some cases you'll even see direct references to mafia lore in political commercials such as this spoof from the Clinton Campaign.
Now when I first saw this commercial I thought it was odd because many speculate that Tony is whacked in that final scene which is now really ironic in terms of this race. But moreso, that The Sopranos are the Clintons favorite show. And is kinda weird because....well....there are a lot of simularities between how The Sopranos do business and how the Clintons do business.
The Sopranos Contains violence and some nudity.
The main driving force of The Sopranos is Tony and Carmella's relationship and the drama within it that exposes who they are and what they believe. Tony is a serial adulterer who is his own worst enemy. He has a brilliant mind but his vices overwhelm his brilliance and the decisions he makes. He is often overdriven by his passions and it makes him do self-destructive things to the detriment of his organization and his family life. He is ruthless to anyone who is not loyal to him or anyone who he thinks has shown disrespect including his own nephew Christopher. He has loyalty to others but that loyalty always comes at a price to the one he is being loyal to.
Carmella is his long suffering wife. She knows of his adultery but stays with him both because of love and the power she recieves from being his wife. She confesses to others that she hates the life, but in private, when she admits it to herself, she loves the life and the lifestyle as much as her husband does. When she finally does gain power of her own choosing, it is only because Tony takes her up on it and gives her money to make the project go through.
Now I'm not saying the Clinton are like the Sopranos but there are enough similiarites there to give one pause. And their politcal operation seems like it runs on dysfunction and undiscipline, something that is also rampant in Tony's organization. At the end of the series Tony's entire original organization is wiped out, except for loyalist Paulie Walnuts. This happens but Tony and his family don't seem to care. They are happily eating dinner in a diner with only a looming threat on the herizon waiting to take all of them out.
Barack Obama's favorite movies, like many people, is The Godfather I and II. Now what would Obama, charming as he is, have in common with this ruthless epic? More important, what would he have in common with Michael Corleone, the cold and calculating mafia don?
A lot more than you would think.
The Godfather
When you look at the tragic story of Michael Corleone, he had a lot of different paths in life he could have taken that would have lead him far away from the gangster life. He was a war veteran. Educated. Extremely smart. Very handsome. Almost naive and innocent in some ways. He was the little brother of the family. The kid nobody wanted to have to much responsibility inside of the family business. Sonny, his older brother, mocked him constantly for not being tough enough to be a part of the life.
His first test is to take out the men who tried to murder his father. He is cool as ice. He doesn't panic. He doesn't waver. He is the eptitome of grace under fire. From there his rise from outsider to the Don of all Dons is rather quick. No one expected this "kid" to have the power he did. He is extremely practical when he needs to be. And ruthless when he needs to be as well. Many within his own family resent his rise to power. He's not ready, he is unprepared, he is the runt of the family, how dare he think he could be Don? But he surprises everyone with exactly how ready he is. And his own dream of cleaning up the family business, to become legitimate. Even, dare I say it, transparent. But unfortunately for Michael, he loses his soul in the process and in the end becomes an empty shell of a man with failed dreams and no family.
Now Obama is a charming, emphathetic, expressive man. But he also has cold and impersonal side that he flashes from time to time as well. His coolness underfire underlies his charms and from other tales about him he knows when to cut a political enemy down to size in a heartbeat. His need to reform and build a transparent government is about as hard as Michael trying to turn his family business into something that is legitimate. Many in his own party don't like it. Will power isolate him from his dreams like Michael was isolated from his? We'll see.
I hope you enjoyed this little bit of anaylsis from someone who is bored on a Saturday.