Jaimelyn Gray: Andrew Shepard’s Speech From The American President

President Andrew Shepard

Source:The New Democrat

Just to be serious for a minute and perhaps only a minute. I was with President Shepard the whole time during this speech, except for the part about the guns. When he said that he was going to get the guns, not just assault weapons, but handguns in general. The Federal Government can’t constitutionally outlaw handguns by statue. The U.S. Supreme Court has made that clear. So to do that, you would either have to amend the Second Amendment or repeal the Second Amendment.

But the rest of the speech about defending free speech and not just speech you agree with and not just people you like and respect, but that the opposition and other groups of Americans have just as much of a right to speech as anyone else in America, was a classical constitutional liberal argument. That all Americans have the right to speech and that there are few exceptions to that. When it comes to libel, inciting violence, or yelling fire in public spaces and causing panics.

This whole scene came about because of the fact that President Andrew Shepard played by Michael Douglas is a widower and single father of a young teenage girl. And meets a Democratic lobbyist who lobbies for environmentalists and pursues her even as President. And they start an affair and fall in love. And that Senate Minority Bob Rumson played by Richard Dreyfuss, who is running for President as a Republican, makes a big deal about this. And tries to make the case that the President who even though he is a widower by the way, having an affair in the White House is an example of the moral decay of America.

All this is going on as President Shepard is trying to finish the rest of his first-term agenda before running for reelection. Which is a crime bill and an energy bill and the affair that he is having with his girlfriend, Sidney Ellen Wade played by Annette Bening, even though neither one is married at the time, costs the President popularity and support in the House of Representatives. And he has to settle for a compromise energy bill, which is how he loses his girlfriend. The speech in the movie was about the President fighting back and saying that “the compromise is not good enough and that we need to go further to address crime and energy”. As well the President defending liberal values.
Jaimelyn Gray: Andrew Shepard’s Speech From American President

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Rob Reiner: The American President (1995) Starring Michael Douglas & Annette Bening

Source:The Daily Press

If you’re someone whose a political junky such as myself and you love watching political movies and political documentaries, than The American President is a very good movie. Because it’s about a President who at the beginning of the movie is pretty popular and is going into to his reelection campaign having not finished his whole agenda that he ran on, trying to finish that agenda with a crime bill and an energy bill.

And they go into how he and the White House work with Congress to get the votes to pass that agenda and how they set up the staff to do that. And how they work with special interest groups to get the support for their energy bill. If you’re someone who like romantic comedy’s that aren’t predictable and cheesy and are clever. Than The American President is a good movie, because it’s about a President whose a widower and the single parent of a daughter who’s somewhat lonely.

President Andrew Shepard meets an environmental lobbyist by accident, walks in on a meeting she’s having with his Chief of Staff. And he asks her to be his date at the next state dinner and even the process he goes through to make that happen is interesting because he calls her up at home. And she thinks the President is one of her friends impersonating the President. And makes fun of him, but the President doesn’t give up and calls her back to convince her he’s the President. The American President has hardball politics, romance and political scandal in about 105 minutes. A little something for everybody.

President Andrew Shepard, with a name like that he must be from New England, but he’s the former Governor of Wisconsin played by Michael Douglas. And this is one of his best roles because you see his ability to act and I’m not a big fan of most of his movies, but I believe he’s a great actor and you see his funny side in the movie and he can be very funny as well. He’s no Danny DeVito, but he can more than hold his own in comedy. Again plays the President who’s somewhat popular going in heading into an election year with still a big agenda to pass, and meets this environmental lobbyist played by Annette Bening who doesn’t like President Shepard’s Energy bill and they talk about it.

And the President and the lobbyist (sounds like the title of a movie) make a deal that if she can land half of the votes in the House for the bill she wants, he’ll get the other half. And at the end of the meeting he asks her on a date. She doesn’t take him seriously, threatens the President that he has to come through, or the President will lose the support of her group. The President gets his date and they hit it off and start an affair that causes the President trouble politically as well as with his agenda.

Again The American President is a movie that has hardball politics, romance, and political scandal. With the romance and with Senate Minority Leader Bob Rumson who’s also running for President making everything he can out of this affair even calling Sydney Ellen Wade a whore on national TV. And running as the Religious Right candidate for President, the Champion of Traditional Values. Running against a Liberal Democrat and a card caring member of the ACLU. And the scene towards the end of the movie, the press conference makes the whole thing worth watching where he sums up the whole movie in about five minutes.

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