Something new and novel

Charmaine at Reasoned Audacity reports on a rather surprising development at the G8. George Clooney likes George Bush better than Bill Clinton...

Actually there is more to it than that. Charmaine notes:

Surprise #1
Waiting to hear George Clooney speak to the ONE campaign activists Wednesday morning at the Roxy Art House in Edinburgh, the last thing I expected was to hear George Clooney give George Bush higher marks than Bill Clinton. On anything.

But he did.

First he noted that the President's speech last Saturday night was a "step in the right direction." And then he commented that the Bush administration is "ahead of schedule on AIDS funding." But he went even further by drily remarking that this was "better than the last President."

Surprise #2
Clooney's presentation was very controlled and carefully calibrated. He didn't appear to be particularly enthused about his assignment, but he was clearly designated as the tip of the spear in the Bono/Geldof charm offensive in their campaign to engage the Bush Administration, and more broadly the Right as a movement, with their African anti-poverty agenda.

Clooney made this agenda fairly specific, talking about "building bridges" and mentioning his upcoming appearance on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network by joking and saying that "my parents will laugh." The kids in the audience loved it.

The Pat Robertson tactic is serious. Robertson's grand-daughter was present with the CBN team and Clooney greeted her heartily with "How's your grandfather?"

Could it be? Am I catching a whiff of 'constructive engagement' here? Well...perhaps. Finally, the kicker:

...George Arney from the BBC pushed forward at the end, shoved a microphone in Clooney's face and asked about global warming. Waving off the event organizer's protests, Clooney answered evenly: "We're trying not to polarize people; we're trying to pick our fights."

Then he added a comment that I found very interesting for its insight into the Bono/Geldof strategy: "We have to let them [the Bush Administration] be good guys."