EL TERCER RIEL

I confess…at first, I didn’t know what to make of Clint Eastwood’s performance at last night’s RNC finale.  I thought it was uneven, it was definitely unscripted, and I wasn’t sure about the empty chair.  Upon further review I find that it was absolute genius, by far eclipsing Tina Fey’s 2008 send-up of Sarah Palin.

This particularly Kaufmanesque performance caused liberal/media heads to explode, and unleashed a torrent of Eastwood hate throughout social media.

First, the more serious elements of the monologue, with its simple yet devastating “let him go” riff.  Beyond the firing context, people need to be gently reminded that it’s OK to “let go” of their Hopenchange illusions, that the failure of this presidency does not directly reflect on their individual judgement, and that it’s OK to demand adherence to American exceptionalism.

Then, the chair.  With that vaudevillian bit, Eastwood successfully depicted President Obama as empty, a depiction that continues to ripple on beyond last night.  The chair bit exposed and clarified what we’ve known all along to be true; that the self-professed “blank canvas” was really nothing more than a vapid empty suit, delivering empty speeches, which begat empty policy, and resulted in empty governance.

The genius of Eastwood’s performance lies in that it enables us all to see the emptiness of the past four years and proves (as does Obama’s response) the potency of Saul Alinsky’s rule 5, beyond all reasonable doubt.  The left’s recoil confirms it.