Documentary Movie Reviews
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The War Room (1993)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
5/21
5/21:
The War Room is like Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed: random political talk
about this and that with no specific explanation of the candidate's platform.
Bill Clinton won the 1992 election in a landslide: 370 to 168. Looking presidential,
he was an easy choice during the time because of his charisma. Never mind that Bill Clinton was a serial womanizer and that
he was impeached for it, the decade did turn out well which became one of the best of the 20th century.
George Bush was an out-of-touch racist elitist who lied constantly, was a wimp, and used ad hominem attacks
frequently because he had nothing else to work with. Finally, the straw that broke the camel's back was his infamous
six-letter promise: "Read my lips: no new taxes," and then...he just did it!
I give credit to Ross Perot for putting on a strong showing as an independent candidate, capturing 19% of the
popular vote, almost half of what Bush received, but none from the Electoral College. What helped Perot the most
is he talked about the issues, most notably the reduction of the national debt. Of course, people chose
to make fun of him based on how he looked. His biggest mistake was dropping out in July and then reentering the race in
October. That wasn't a presidential thing to do.
The War Room captures none of them well. Instead, it's mainly focused on James Carville and George
Stephanopoulos making small talk as they go through the election year. A lot of the content concerning the race
is missing. Both were unsuccessfully sued by Gennifer Flowers for defamation, but it turned out
her story was true after all. Interestingly, as George Bush attacked Bill Clinton's character, he also cheated on his
wife Barbara for many years with Jennifer Fitzgerald and others.
All in all, the most The War Room can offer is a glimpse of how young these people looked back then.