After more than three hours, which could have been cut to no more than two and a half hours or less, the Academy Awards ceremony finally got around to announcing the winners for Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Picture. There were no surprises in the first two categories, Daniel Day Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence won in their respective categories. But Argo won the Best Picture category beating the heavily touted Lincoln directed by Steven Spielberg. Maybe the folks in Hollywood have read Tom DiLorenzo’s critique of the movie’s historical accuracy?
The most apparent innocuous moment of the evening occurred when Jack Nicholson was introduced to present the Best Picture award. He then stated that First Lady Michelle Obama via satellite would help him announce the winner. After Nicholson rattled off the names of nine Best Picture nominees, Mrs. Obama announced that Argo won. I had hoped it would because it was a fast paced, accurate account (with some cinematic license) of CIA agent Tony Mendez’s successful rescue of six Americans who took shelter in the Canadian ambassador’s residence in Teheran after the storming of the U.S. embassy in November 1979.
But why was the First Lady invited to participate in the Academy Award ceremony? My only guess is that this was Hollywood’s attempt to preempt any legislation that may come out of the Congress in the aftermath of the Newton shootings containing anti-violence codes, standards, etc. Hollywood knows how to schmooze with the best of them, and there is no better way than to have a member of the First Family be seen by a billion viewers with men and women in uniform as backdrops to ingratiate your industry with the political elite.
Mrs. Obama’s appearance was another way for the Hollywood crowd to gain even more influence with a president who “will have their back” if any motion picture restrictions emerge from Congress. Meanwhile, the president can continue to invade other countries, flying drones over America, etc., knowing that the leftists in tinseltown will give him a pass.