I’ve been on the planet longer than George Clooney. Let’s stipulate that I’m not George Clooney. You wish. I wish.
Projection out of the way, this evening I stumbled onto an interview with Clooney by outgoing Esquire editor David Granger. There’s a long history between the two of them. The interview gave me nothing less than complete respect for Clooney (which I admit I’ve always had), and even more an appreciation of both his talent and humanity.
Hanging with Mr. Clooney, through my avatar David Granger, is how I would have imagined it. George gets it, in a Bono kind of way, with maybe a bit less cowbell. Considering Barack Obama’s legacy, Clooney opines:
...if you look at us over the history of time, we really fucked up. We fucked up with the Indians; we fucked up with slavery. We were terrible to women. We fuck up and we fuck up and we fuck up, and we get better. We're not great yet; we haven't fixed it all yet. We didn't figure it out in 1776. We didn't have a Constitution until 1787. It takes a while to figure things out. But what happened in 2008 was: Just when you thought you couldn't figure it out, that the world was gonna go straight to hell, we elected the first African-American ever, who, when he speaks, he makes us feel proud, and makes the rest of the world calm down about the United States.
...Makes the rest of the world calm down about the United States.
No shit. Thank you, George.
With respect to Secretary Clinton:
DG: You know Hillary Clinton well. Is there a moment you've had with her that crystallizes who she is?
GC: I was a big supporter of Barack Obama in 2008. When I came back from Darfur when she was secretary of state, I would have thought she would have been a little ticked off to meet with me. And she wasn't.
DG: What is it like meeting with a secretary of state?
GC: When I walked out of that room, I was very, very, very glad that she was secretary of state and that she was an informed, responsible, smart person. I don't think she's nearly as good a campaigner as she would be a leader.
Bang. We’re gonna need some of that in the coming four years.
Enjoy the upcoming primary results tonight.
And, oh, by all means do read the entire interview with George Clooney. It’s a magnificent portrait of a truly grounded man by a truly grounded journalist.