Go ahead, make my headline!

Anyone who has recently tuned in to the continuing political show that is the run-up to the next US presidential election, will have been confronted with the scene of famous Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood talking to a chair at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.  Among the political celebrities that took stage, Eastwood used his Hollywood status to endorse the Republican challenger to President Obama, Mitt Romney.  The chair, his on-stage companion, was his proxy for what some have dubbed a symbolically absent Obama.  As such, the Dirty Harry actor prodded an invisible Obama on the war in Afghanistan and why Guantanamo Bay still remains open to this day.

 

Eastwood's performance has raised an interesting question in contemporary politcal discourse where the reins of power play an important influence.  Actor George Clooney for his part has not shyed away from the glare of celebrity in order to promote his political stance and humanitarian causes.  His activism in garnering awareness and political action for the Darfur crisis put a face to a movement.