I was watching The American President . And while idealistically I wonder whether a US president ever lived up to such ideals; we certainly hear of the statesmanship of previous presidents, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson; in their time were they as great as we now think they were? Surely they're not as dispiriting as today's examples. There was a particular speech towards the end of the film that stated that the two interests of the corrupt opposition leader, regarding problems, were "making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it." This seems to reflect the order of political scoundrel that exists today. Suddenly leaders don't seem to be interested in building the identity of the constituencies they represent, they just merely seem to attack their opposite numbers, or to seek to find an appopriate nemesis to blame. And any promotion is based purely on an event rather than what it was about the constitutuency that made that great event possible. They don't state "this is how great you are" but "this is how great you could be if that was you". It's rather unempowering in a way...

To seemingly counter this, it's one of the aspects i enjoy about film. It grants us the luxury to imagine ourselves as we'd like to be (even if some films indicate how we can be at our worst). It gives us something to aim for.