Hollywood is in the business of telling stories, captivating the imaginations of viewers, striking emotional connections and selling products to the masses for a pretty profit. These very same “suspension of disbelief” skills were masterfully deployed to get Barack Obama elected in 2008. Thanks to Jason Mattera, we shouldn’t be fooled again.
In his new book, “Hollywood Hypocrites: The Devastating Truth About Obama’s Biggest Backers,” Mattera provides the ammunition conservatives need to neuter A-List celebrities like Bono, Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz and Kanye West in the lead up to the most important election of our lifetimes.
Not only did these one-percenters max out on campaign contributions, they produced ads and songs, performed concerts and stumped on the campaign trail in order to convince America to elect the least qualified person to ever occupy the White House. At no point were these Tinsel Town elitists challenged because Republicans gravely underestimated the power of the celebrity culture. Obama-bots actually believed Obama was going to bring world peace, stop the oceans from rising and pay their mortgages.
The reality of course was that the shape-shifting Obama had gone from a community organizer to the White House without ever having had a real job. Now, after three disastrous years — a $15 trillion national debt, 8.3% unemployment, record numbers of food stamp recipients, relentless assaults on religious freedom — he’s back on the campaign trail (as if he’s ever left it) making empty promises and using divisive, class-warfare, racialist rhetoric to justify his re-election. And, to fund his $1 billion campaign, Obama is once again tapping his Hollywood minions.
Last week, he was in Atlanta for a $35,000-per-person fundraiser hosted by movie director and producer Tyler Perry. Ironically, those attending Obama’s fundraisers — he’s had over 100 now, more than any other president — though in the business of irony don’t seem to notice the irony of sitting through speeches about how “the rich” should be paying higher taxes. But of course, we know who their small-m messiah means when he says “the rich” — America’s entrepreneurs. The real job creators. For someone who speaks about the American dream, Obama certainly knows how to deride people who have achieved it and set up roadblocks in front of those seeking it.
In an incredibly well-researched book Jason, with his trademark wit, calls out celebrities who have backed Obama’s calls for higher taxes, more regulations, more spending and bigger government. You won’t be shocked to learn how celebrities’ lifestyles and business decisions stand in stark contrast to the rules and regulations they want regular folks to follow.
In New Jersey, Bon Jovi pays almost no property taxes on his large estate because he takes advantage of a loophole for bee farmers, depriving the neediest of his fellow citizens of the tax dollars necessary to run the public programs he chides Republicans for wanting to reform. Sting, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio are flying private jets around the world, expanding their carbon footprints faster than they can buy carbon offsets as they call for anti-Global Warming policies to stifle business and economic growth. Robert Redford lobbied against home building near his Napa Valley estate, but earned large sums by selling off land for homes on untouched land close to his Sundance, Utah getaway.
