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You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Television / HBO Obama Show

HBO Obama Show

by John Cole|  November 3, 20096:41 pm| 56 Comments

This post is in: Television

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Just got an email reminding me of the Obama election movie on HBO tonight.

I’ll probably watch it at some point, but I still find movies like this kind of creepy. Whatever, though. I’m weird.

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56Comments

  1. 1.

    Paula

    November 3, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    No, they are creepy. I have no desire to relive 2008, even in the haze of happy hindsight.

  2. 2.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    but I still find movies like this kind of creepy. Whatever, though. I’m weird.

    I absolutely cannot stand them. Creepy is a good enough word.

  3. 3.

    Dreggas

    November 3, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    Next-up right wing blogs boycotting HBO and calling it HBObama.

  4. 4.

    dfd

    November 3, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    Any predictions regarding the races tonight?

  5. 5.

    JJ

    November 3, 2009 at 6:45 pm

    Creepy? You can’t elaborate on that?

  6. 6.

    Legalize

    November 3, 2009 at 6:46 pm

    I can’t wait to sit in front of the Barackumentary’s warm, glowing warming glow.

  7. 7.

    Mark S.

    November 3, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    @Dreggas:

    Nice.

    @dfd:

    I’ll go with Owens wins NY-23 and the GOP wins both governor races.

  8. 8.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Drat. Paula beat. My lead on JSF is tenuous.

    Meanwhile back on Planet Wingnut, The Red State Trike Force, lead by Viking Warrior Erick the Bleg, shoots foot again.

    On his third trip to the polls, a Hoffman supporter and poll watcher had his tires slashed this afternoon —as you can see he had a hoffman sign in his back window.

    Yes, dude has flat and the fiendish libtards strike again.

    [updated:] Local police are not willing to confirm it was a tire slashing and say it could be that the poll watcher ran over a bottle.

    Maybe not. But facts don’t stop the wanking.

  9. 9.

    Zam

    November 3, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Well whatever is on other channels has to be better than watching the election tonight with Republicans claiming NY-23 and VA prove that everyone hates Obama. In fact I’ve been hearing all day that this is just like before 94, ignoring the major difference between 92 and 08.

  10. 10.

    Mnemosyne

    November 3, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    I don’t know that I would call it “creepy” so much as “WAAAY too soon.” Did HBO really have to contribute to instant nostalgia?

  11. 11.

    Zam

    November 3, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    @Zam: I’d also like to add to myself, that I do love how republicans just love to ignore local politics, every districts problems can be solved by a tax cut for every millionaire and a gay in every tree.

  12. 12.

    FlipYrWhig

    November 3, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    Alarming signs indeed. Was the Hoffman supporter who reported his tires slashed also sporting a backwards B on his cheek, left by Bill Owens’s army of ruthless thugs?

  13. 13.

    EvolutionaryDesign

    November 3, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    There’s more schadenfreud to be found watching Right America:Feeling Wronged, a littel doc Nancy Pelosi’s daughter cooked up and was released after the election.

  14. 14.

    EvolutionaryDesign

    November 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    I love spelling errors and no edit buttons!!

  15. 15.

    Max

    November 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    Via Joe Scarborough on the Twitter-

    But how many votes can D’s mine from Newark? Answer: A lot.

    Cause, they’re black, get it?

    I’m betting the whole prognosticating scene this evening involves some subtle and not so subtle racism.

    Any takers?

  16. 16.

    D-Chance.

    November 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    Hoffman poll-watcher runs over bottle… Erickson has a hissy fit. Photos posted of the pick-up. Screams of “ACORN!” abound (because black folk slash tires and stuff, y’know).

    In the meantime, BOTH sides were already screaming “Fraud!” before voting even opened this morning.

    Good grief, this country’s become one steaming big pile of crap. It’s freaking embarrassing to call oneself an American anymore.

  17. 17.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    @Zam:

    VA seems like a wingnut lock. But NY 23, history is against it, really against. But the Traveling Tea Bag Circus has never played there, so who knows fer sure.

    If Corzine loses NJ, then the winger afterbirth will be loud and louder still.

  18. 18.

    cleek

    November 3, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    Spoiler:

    Obama wins.

  19. 19.

    FlipYrWhig

    November 3, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    @D-Chance.:

    BOTH sides were already screaming “Fraud!” before voting even opened this morning.

    Sure, but _that_ was about Alex Rodriguez.

  20. 20.

    FlipYrWhig

    November 3, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    @cleek:

    Obama wins.

    A black guy with a Muslim name? *shakes head, mutters to self* S’pose that’s Hollyweird for ya.

  21. 21.

    cleek

    November 3, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    @Dreggas:

    Google currently reports 14500 hits for “HBObama”

  22. 22.

    Max

    November 3, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    This is must see tv to look forward to…

    Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will serve as co-hosts of the 82nd Academy Awards.

    I mean that snark-free. I like these guys.

  23. 23.

    cat48

    November 3, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    I’m watching it. I’m bored with everyone evaluating his first 10 months as his first yr in office. Maybe black presidents only get 10 mos. instead of 12 for their first years (joke). Almost every blog and channel is doing it along with how he doesn’t have any coattails for the Dems running. What does it mean for Obama if he (he?) loses tonight? Got to get away from this.

  24. 24.

    Zam

    November 3, 2009 at 6:58 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: Yea if NY-23 goes for the Dem you would really think it would throw a stick into the spokes of the media’s general impression of this hard right group. These people seem to think that a good percentage of the teabaggers originally voted for Obama and days after he took office were suddenly surprised and angry.

  25. 25.

    Paula

    November 3, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    re Flip

    Prediction: Ginseng Hitler Beepollen for 2016!!! [20 nerd points for whoever gets this.]

  26. 26.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    @Zam:

    It’s still a new phenom, so I wouldn’t bet against the wingnuts in this one. But if they win, the wingnuttery will go critical mass and soon blow up in their faces. A lot of Texan carpetbagging will have a short half life in libtard New England, I expect.

    Upstate New York ain’t the Texas Hill Country.

  27. 27.

    bobbo

    November 3, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    I have mixed feelings about it. I suspect a little hagiography, or at least an upbeat, feel-good story that reminds me of how much happier I was about the state of American politics on Election Night than I am now. And feeling nostalgia for a year ago makes me feel old.

  28. 28.

    slag

    November 3, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    I’m extremely curious about it (even though I don’t have HBO). Explain why it’s creepy please. I’m curious about that too.

  29. 29.

    Ed in NJ

    November 3, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    I figured that the wingnuts would be screaming about HBO’s documentary, conveniently forgetting such documentaries as Journeys with George, Unprecedented, and The War Room, which all documented previous presidential elections.

    I now see that the ignorance apparently isn’t limited to wingnuts.

  30. 30.

    John Cole

    November 3, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    @slag: Don’t you remember the paeans to Bush on Fox?

  31. 31.

    Rey

    November 3, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    I will be watching the documentary, just as drunk as I was this time last year. I will probably cry and thank God- once again for Barack Obama and Ballon Juice. BTW, fuck – CNN, Fox, John McCain, Sarah Palin and all the wingnut Rethugs. I need to go eat something before I puke– that is all……..

  32. 32.

    geg6

    November 3, 2009 at 7:38 pm

    Well, I, for one, have no problem reliving the campaign. It was a year and a half that, for a long suffering Dem, I’ll never forget. I’ve worked many elections since my first in 1976 and I’ve never experienced anything like that. It was a happy and fulfilling thing that I was fully invested in. And since the film is purportedly more about the people who made it happen than an paen to the man, I think it will capture that for me. Nothing creepy about it and I’m more than a little puzzled at the cynicism of saying it is. I thought I was cynical, but apparently not as much as I thought. Oh well, to each their own, I guess.

  33. 33.

    slag

    November 3, 2009 at 7:39 pm

    @John Cole: Yeah. But I always figured those were creepy because GW was creepy. You’re saying it’s actually the format and GW isn’t creepy? Or maybe Obama’s creepy too?

  34. 34.

    Laura W

    November 3, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    @geg6: Have I told you today that I Love You?

  35. 35.

    Rey

    November 3, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    p.s. I want to slap the swamry (can’t spell, I’m tipsy) smile off of all the Repubs on my TV tonite. God- I hate them, McDonnell got all the votes in VA, did anybody vote for Deeds? besides his mother and wife?

  36. 36.

    BDeevDad

    November 3, 2009 at 7:45 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: What’s even funnier is that left wing rag the Wall Street Journal is the one who first reported the guy ran over a bottle.

  37. 37.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    @slag:

    Usually, these things are mostly shot on the run with hand held cameras that give it a Blair Witch Project aura. That and all the shallow campaign mentality, half eaten donuts and styro cups of coffee laying around, is what gives me the creepies.

  38. 38.

    geg6

    November 3, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    Laura W @33: No, but I’m glad you have now. I’m drinking champagne (well, spumante) and enjoying myself. I met the most incredible people during the campaign, some of them rather famous, celebrities you could say. And I need to remember that time and how it felt.

  39. 39.

    The Saff

    November 3, 2009 at 7:50 pm

    I plan to watch it. There was a teaser about it before “Curb” on Sunday; a 9- year old boy who was phone banking for Obama. The kid kept repeating “Obama” but the other party didn’t understand. Then the kid says, “hello? hello? um, ok, thanks. Have a good night.” The person he called obviously hung up. It was cute.

    And I plan to buy David Plouffe’s book tomorrow.

  40. 40.

    Dream On

    November 3, 2009 at 7:51 pm

    the documentary is not WAAAY too soon – it really is WAY too late. The bloom is off the Obama rose – we know better now. Meh!

  41. 41.

    Rey

    November 3, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    The bigot JOP in Lousiana just resigned, you know the one that wouldn’t marry the interracial couple. I guess someone told him– Hey, our President is a product of an interracial marriage and look he turned out pretty damn good. What a dumb ass….

  42. 42.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    The bloom is off the Obama rose – we know better now. Meh!

    Word has it. Malkin is using the dead pedals to fertilize her Venus Fly Trap.

  43. 43.

    geg6

    November 3, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    The Saff @38: It’s even better than that. They show the phone log he’s working from and in the place where you write whether or not they will vote Obama or not or other comments, the kid has written “crazy.” The kid is perfect.

  44. 44.

    Keith G

    November 3, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: & et al

    Teaching gov. in h.s. in the mid ’90s, I used The War Room as a teaching tool. Kids appreciated the behind-the-scene view. So no, not creepy to my mind.

  45. 45.

    slag

    November 3, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: Yeah. I guess the standard documentary film format is kind of creepy, in a certain light. And I can empathize with not wanting to be reminded of how shallow the process can be.

    But being afraid of half-eaten donuts? Not following you there. Is it more disturbing that they eat the donuts or that they eat only half? Or are you saying the half-eaten donut serves as a symbol of some sort? Does it symbolize Marxism, by chance?

  46. 46.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    Or are you saying the half-eaten donut serves as a symbol of some sort?

    Wasted food. I’m on a diet and hungry.

  47. 47.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 8:02 pm

    @Keith G:

    Well of course that is different.

  48. 48.

    slag

    November 3, 2009 at 8:04 pm

    @Dream On: Now you’re just being silly.

  49. 49.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    @slag:

    Silly is fun. And healthy in politics.

  50. 50.

    slag

    November 3, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: That’s true. But I think I may be starting to understand the creepy issue. Is it a kind of a Masters of the Universe concern? That the documentary will actually place the Obama campaign in too gentle a light, thereby reinforcing the bizarre notion that some people have that there’s some extraordinary amount of genius now at work in the Executive Branch? If so, I can kind of buy that. Assuming that’s how the documentary will portray them.

  51. 51.

    General Winfield Stuck

    November 3, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    @slag:

    The creepy word may not be the best to describe my lack of interest in re-watching a political campaign. The real thing is OK, I guess, because even though shallow, in real time it portends a serious event which is election day. Without that end game as unknown, it is mostly just a rehash of the same stump speech and often mindless tit for tat politicking I find boorish, at least to replay it.

    But Keith G. makes a good point of it’s teaching value for young people, and I would never disparage the value of that. It’s just a personal lack of interest mostly.

  52. 52.

    Batocchio

    November 3, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    I watched The War Room again last year and it was very interesting (and wild to see all the Clinton crew looking so much younger). The same goes for A Perfect Candidate. One of the filmmakers for the Obama doc was on Democracy Now this morning. I’m not sure how good it will be, but I’m looking forward to seeing it. But to each their own…

    On the other hand, I am dreading the inevitable crappy op-eds and posts the docs will spawn. I’m guessing Richard “Obama doesn’t know himself the way I know John McCain” Cohen might use it to crap out a column.

  53. 53.

    cleek

    November 3, 2009 at 9:33 pm

    Malkin is using the dead pedals to fertilize her Venus Fly Trap.

    eeeeew

  54. 54.

    ruemara

    November 3, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    @cat48:

    When I was last black, I got an accelerated timetable of failure. We had to do 8 hours work in 4, stay celibate until 20 and do a blood test for pot every hour, otherwise we were “blackityzomgneegrowwelfarians!” You get used to it.

  55. 55.

    ruemara

    November 3, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    @Paula:
    If Michael Palin sues you, it’s your own silly fault.

    gimme my points.

  56. 56.

    Paula

    November 4, 2009 at 12:35 am

    Rong!!! Silly person … Anyone else?

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