In one shot in “The Final Year,” a documentary
about President Obama’s national-security team during the last months
of his presidency, the camera zooms in on a dead cockroach in the West
Wing. An off-camera voice explains how the building is so old that
roaches roam free and people can hear rats scurrying in the pipes
overhead. Feel free to draw your own metaphors.
“The Final Year” is now available on HBO and showing in select theaters across the country. Although the film features Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice, it focuses on United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, a 29-year-old speechwriter with no foreign policy experience when he joined the administration in early 2009.
As the world implodes around them and the political landscape at home shifts in unforeseen ways, largely in protest to his reign, Obama and his advisors blithely find time to lavish praise on each other and themselves for the “arc of progress” they commanded over eight years. The film is a view into their collective incompetence, rooted in a combination of naiveté and smug superiority and fed with college-level platitudes about war, diplomacy, and engagement. Knowing how the story ends is the only thing that makes it tolerable to watch 90 minutes of their preening and moralizing.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/01/29/final-year-depicts-chaotic-legacy-obamas-national-security-team/
“The Final Year” is now available on HBO and showing in select theaters across the country. Although the film features Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice, it focuses on United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, a 29-year-old speechwriter with no foreign policy experience when he joined the administration in early 2009.
As the world implodes around them and the political landscape at home shifts in unforeseen ways, largely in protest to his reign, Obama and his advisors blithely find time to lavish praise on each other and themselves for the “arc of progress” they commanded over eight years. The film is a view into their collective incompetence, rooted in a combination of naiveté and smug superiority and fed with college-level platitudes about war, diplomacy, and engagement. Knowing how the story ends is the only thing that makes it tolerable to watch 90 minutes of their preening and moralizing.
The Least Experienced Guy Is the Star
Rhodes is pretty much the star of the show, and he knows it. His performance might remind you of every quasi-serious role George Clooney has ever played: He acts like he’s unaffected but it’s obvious that each word, hand gesture, and facial expression is stagecraft designed to make him look pensive and really, really smart.http://thefederalist.com/2018/01/29/final-year-depicts-chaotic-legacy-obamas-national-security-team/
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