Barack Obama

The Politics of Nostalgia

The Politics of Nostalgia

Richard Tanne's Southside With You, a compelling cinematic depiction of the first date of Barack and Michelle Obama (played brilliantly by Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter), is on one hand a smart romance in the vein of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise trilogy or James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now. It's a quiet, simple love story that captures the innocence, awkwardness and impermanence of the early days of relationships. Southside is a snapshot of a couple of lawyers in 1989 Chicago who two decades later would be ruling the free world in the White House. That's the obvious hindsight angle that makes the film interesting as narration of a particular m

Five Reasons Why I'm Voting for Romney

My vote won't matter at all in California, but I sent in my ballot last week anyway, voting for Mitt Romney. Am I super excited about everything Romney stands for? Not at all. I'm uncomfortable with his Mormon faith, regret that he supports drone strikes & the use of torture, and absolutely wince when he says things like "America is the hope of the earth."

Desperately Seeking Evangelicals

It seems that everyday there is a new story in the news about how evangelical Christians are "up for grabs" in this year's election. On Sunday there was this article on CNN.com about Shane Claiborne's "Jesus For President" tour, in which the dreadlocked neo-monk said, "With the respectability and the power of the church comes the temptation to prostitute our identity for every political agenda." Well said.