It took a famous TV doctor to diagnose the patient. After two weeks of unrest in the US Democratic Party over President Biden’s re-election campaign, it was thereDoug Ross, aka George Clooney, wrote a scathing assessment of the sitting president.
The 63-year-old actor was not in a theatrical mood when he wrote a letter expressing further grief that was published by the New York Times last week, calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, which the White House had reportedly begged him not to run for. This came three weeks after Clooney raised $30 million for the Biden-Harris ticket at a lavish Hollywood fundraiser.
But Clooney’s handling of patients was impeccable: “I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As vice president and as president. I consider him a friend and I believe in him,” he wrote. “But the one battle he cannot win is the battle against time. None of us can.”
Clooney spoke for himself — and for a large portion of liberal-leaning Hollywood donors angry at what they saw as White House deceit over Biden’s apparent decline in health. Clooney said the man at the fundraiser was “the same guy we all saw” during his debate performance two weeks later.
In the current spirit of panic and recrimination, with the White House press corps turning Biden’s every appearance into a test of competence, Democratic donors, including Biden re-election campaign co-chair and film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, are suspected of helping cover up Biden’s apparent health problems.
Clooney’s letter has the Ocean’s Eleven actor out of political danger. The Democratic Party may not be so lucky. Democrats, says James Carville, the Clinton strategist who last week called for a blitz primary to select a new candidate, “are determined to force the American people to do something they don’t want to do — vote for Joe Biden.”
“George has come out, [former house speaker] Nancy Pelosi has come out – I don’t know what else people can do,” Carville told the Observer“Except for a few people in Congress, everyone thinks this is a terrible idea [for Biden to run]. But you’re dealing with a man who doesn’t want to leave, and that’s exactly where we are now.”
George Clooney isn’t the only Clooney causing a stir around the world. Last month, it was revealed that his wife Amal Clooney played a key role in advocating for arrest warrants to be issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three senior Hamas leaders.
Biden called the ICC’s move “outrageous” and said that no matter what the ICC prosecutor may say, “there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.” According to the Washington PostGeorge Clooney called Steve Ricchetti, an adviser to the US president, to protest the administration’s willingness to impose sanctions where his wife might be caught.
This week, the Biden-Harris campaign attempted to blame Clooney’s letter on “pre-existing tensions” — hinting at the feud with the ICC. A Hollywood producer familiar with the couple told the Observer that the White House’s explanation of the letter was “nonsense” and that the lawyer had been smeared because her work concerns human rights regardless of political divisions.
“George has power in Hollywood. Amal doesn’t, except as George’s wife,” they added. “Her power is in the UK, in The Hague and on the pages of Fashion.”
The lawyer has not commented on her husband’s political intervention, which may have come with Barack Obama’s tacit approval. But after 10 years together, George and Amal Clooney are considered one of the most stable couples in Hollywood.
They met at the actor’s home in Lake Como, Italy, when a mutual friend brought her along. Clooney’s agent also got wind of the meeting, the actor later revealed. “My agent said, ‘I met a woman who’s coming to your house, who you’re going to marry.’ That’s how it happened.”
“It felt like the most natural thing in the world,” Amal said. “I always hoped there would be a love that was overwhelming and didn’t require any deliberation or decision-making.”
A safari to Kenya to see giraffes sealed the deal. In 2014 he proposed, they got married in Venice and now have twins.
The political instincts that surfaced in Clooney’s films, including Good night and good luck (2005) and The Ides of March (2011), quickly took off. In 2016, the couple met then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss refugee policy; that year, they attended a UN refugee summit and shortly thereafter founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which focuses on legal rights for those targeted by oppressive governments and tracks money donated by human rights abusers and those who profit from war crimes.
“We are both inspired by the young people standing up against injustice in their communities, a new generation that will not accept the status quo,” the actor said in a speech accepting the award two years ago.
But Clooney’s intervention comes with potential costs. The Bidens, like the Clintons and Obamas, may see themselves as profiting from celebrity rubbing shoulders, but the intersection of entertainment and politics, and the money and ideologies that fuel it, is repugnant to many outside the political-entertainment enclaves. Following Trump’s lead, Biden now says the growing chorus against him is coming from “the elites,” despite the bad timing of first lady Dr. Jill Biden appearing on the cover of the August American Vogue.
The tradition of celebrity political endorsements dates back to Frank Sinatra, who organized his friends, the Rat Pack, to campaign for John F. Kennedy. Two decades later, disagreements over Ronald Reagan forced celebrities to choose where they belonged.
“That’s where we’re still at,” explains veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf. “Celebrities see themselves as an important part of the Democratic fundraising and thought-based operation, which many Americans would disagree with.”
Sheinkopf says the fight over Biden’s future is as much about the future of the Democratic Party as it is about Biden’s health. And Clooney’s intervention will ensure that Republicans in Maga will fight harder for candidate Trump.
“Democrats are the party of the elites, despite the fact that they see themselves as the party of the non-elites,” he says. Regardless of who’s writing the checks — Hollywood celebrities or a right-wing industrialist from Texas — “what all elites want is a party that does what they want because they think it’s right.”
“But that’s not who Joe Biden is. He represents the old pro-union, almost colorblind left, but that’s not who the operators behind the scenes are,” he adds.
Peter Bart, former editor of the Hollywood trade bible Varietywrote in a Deadline column that he had “great respect for Clooney’s decision,” but that it was also one that “would cost him dearly.”
He recalled other Hollywood stars who mixed politics with entertainment, including Jane Fonda, Charlton Heston and John Wayne. “In addition to potential career damage, Clooney must confront donors who spent millions at his behest to support a ticket he is now abandoning,” Bart, 91, warned.
He recalled a conversation he had with Ronald Reagan about Nixon. “I want people to like me, even voters who vote against me,” Reagan told him. “Nixon doesn’t seem to care, but I’m still an actor.”
Still, Clooney’s intervention has drawn criticism. The progressive left and African-American voters, both voting blocs Biden is trying to shore up to shore up his support, criticized the actor for taking a position granted to him by being famous, white and male.
Others say the perspectives are different than flying out of a window seat on a Gulfstream jet between homes in Los Angeles, England, France and Italy. (Clooney and his partner Rande Gerber, husband of Cindy Crawford, are not only successful actors known for playing pranks on friends, but have also made $1 billion from sales of their tequila brand, Casamigos.)
Related: Will Biden’s loss of celebrity support really make a difference?
Clooney has also been criticized, from the other side. Trump weighed in, saying that Clooney “attacked Crooked Joe like the rats they both are,” and some questioned why Clooney, and Hollywood in general, waited until after the debate to reveal what they had seen at the fundraiser.
Yet the New York Times letter establishes the Kentucky-born actor as a modern-day Warren Beatty, the actor who made his political beliefs part of his public image. Beatty has never run for office, joking that it would be “more like running for crucifixion,” and neither has Clooney, allowing both to transcend the daily grind of retail politics.
“George’s op-ed was provocative, well done, but voters don’t want this anyway: 73% of the voting public say they want something different,” Carville said. “They’re not asking for anything difficult — just a different nominee. We’re in a crisis.”