No We Can't

What the cynical new Obama-produced Netflix film says about technology, and our American culture

NOTE: The full, free, Fourth Watch newsletter returns next week for one more edition of 2023. The focus will be on how — no matter how much time passes — some things in the media just, sadly, never change (and specifically this clip).

As you hopefully are headed toward somewhere between a few days and more than week of time off with your family, here’s a movie suggestion if you want to walk away thinking, and hopefully talking with others - Netflix’s “Leave The World Behind.”

I can’t say you’ll love it — in fact, it may frustrate you, and leave you uncomfortable, and annoyed. But it’s an important piece of discussion in our culture today for a few reasons. It’s why I devoted my TheHill column today to it at TheHill, headlined “The cynical but important commentary of the Obama-produced film ‘Leave the World Behind.’”

Yes, one of the most interesting aspects of the movie is what is happening behind the scenes — namely, it’s the first fiction film produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. And according to the director, Barack was very involved in the process. So…what does the former president want to tell us with this film? Well, it’s perhaps the most cynical movie about American culture and society that I’ve seen in years. It has a pretty low opinion… of us.

The average American, yes, but also the elites. Julia Roberts' “rich people problems” character laments how they “use paper straws and order the free-range chicken” and think they’re actually doing some good. But ultimately, “we’re living a lie, an agreed-upon mass delusion to help us ignore and keep ignoring how awful we really are.” It’s an indictment of the sort of performative progressivism we see in our culture today — and it’s fascinating that it would receive the Obama seal of approval.

There’s also a really perceptive thread throughout the film about technology, and our reliance, and addiction, to it. “I can barely do anything without my cell phone and my GPS. I am a useless man,” says one character, quite pathetically.

But it’s the pessimistic, almost nihilistic, conclusion, that really leaves you thinking. For Obama, it appears we’ve gone from “Yes We Can" to "No We Can't.” But… what does that say about him? Click the screenshot (featuring a shirt saying “Obey” designed by Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the famous Obama “Hope” poster) to read the column:

TheHill also published another of my columns this week, which was headlined “Firing college presidents and kicking out antisemites won’t solve the problem,” with the problem being defined as this: “The rise of immutable characteristics in our cultural discourse — alternately, the elevation of identity — is the insidious development.”

There are more than enough reasons why Claudine Gay should be out as head of Harvard. But you could make the argument that keeping her and others like her in their positions makes the failures of elite institutions more glaring, as their unimpressive and mediocre personas are now lay bare for all to see. Keeping them as the figureheads of academia’s rot illuminates the issue, as opposed to allowing these universities to swap presidents and present a false veil of change.

And in conclusion: “Superficial victories may feel satisfying in the moment, but to repudiate “safe space” culture, we need to expose it for the fraudulence that it is. And adopting the same tactics of anti-speech activists will just make them double down. The only way to deescalate the safe space instincts in our culture is to refuse to play the game.” Read the full column here.

Also this week, I was on NewsNation this week talking about, among other things, why the whole 14th Amendment nonsense is like middle school student government juvenile drama, and why, yes I know it sounds crazy now, I predict Nikki Haley will be Trump’s pick for VP.

Have a Merry Christmas, and I’ll be back with a full newsletter next week.