By David Gordon
Dear President Obama,
Congratulations on getting elected President of the United States. We’re sure you have enough on your mind as it is, what with transitioning into the White House and all, but perhaps you may have some free time left on your hands. If so, here are a few movies you should watch to prepare yourself for the highest office in the land.
“Election” (1999) – the charming comedy based on Tom Perotta’s book of the same title features Reese Witherspoon as an overzealous student running for president of her high school and Matthew Broderick as the teacher who will do anything to bring her down.
“The American President” (1995) – Michael Douglas and Annette Benning star in this romantic comedy about a widower president falling in love with a lobbyist. Grab a nice bottle of Merlot, dim the lights and prepare for a perfect night alone with the First Lady.
“Air Force One” (1997) – If your plane ever gets hijacked (God forbid), follow Harrison Ford’s lead in bringing them down!
“Dave” (1993) – In case you fall into a coma (God forbid) and your team hires Kevin Kline to replace you. At least you’ll know in advance what you’re missing.
“My Fellow Americans” (1995) – Features late comedy great Jack Lemmon and living legends James Garner and Dan Aykroyd. Just an overall funny movie that I always take two hours to watch.
“All the President’s Men” (1976) – For when you have overzealous reporters (Sam Rubenfeld?) trying to uncover something that could lead to your resignation.
“Frost/Nixon” (released in December, 2008) – For when you have an overzealous talk show host trying to get you to apologize for that which caused you to resign. Or, if you don’t want to plan for -negatives, you can just watch it to marvel at the performance of Frank Langella as Richard Nixon.
“Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964) and “Fail Safe” (1964, 2000) – for when you have people trying to coax you into doing something bad to another country. I don’t think the last guy saw this.
“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939) – remember your young, innocent days with this Frank Capra classic. Wasn’t life so much simpler back then?
“Independence Day” (1996) – because we’re watching your acceptance speech as we write this and can’t help but think of Bill Pullman’s immortal quote “We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today is our Independence Day!”
“The West Wing,” The Complete Series – the perfect conclusion to this piece. Journey through the years with President Bartlett and his staff during their consistently thought-provoking time in the White House. But why is it the perfect conclusion? Just as we made history on Tuesday night by electing an African-American, the fictional USA made history by electing the first Latino to the highest office in the land.