Spielberg Gives Clinton Top Billing
By David M. Halbfinger - New York Times Blog
LOS ANGELES — Steven Spielberg’s exploratory phase is over: He’s a Hillary Clinton man.
After a flirtation with Senator Barack Obama in February, and maxing out his contributions to both Mr. Obama and former Senator John Edwards, the famous filmmaker today threw his support formally behind Senator Clinton.
It’s the most significant indication yet that Hollywood luminaries are returning to what was expected to be their default position at the start of the campaign, before Mr. Obama suddenly grew white-hot.
In a statement that her campaign splashed across its home page, Mr. Spielberg cited Mrs. Clinton’s “experience and strength.”
“I’ve taken the time to familiarize myself with the impressive field of Democratic candidates and am convinced that Hillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate to lead us from her first day in the White House,” he said. “Hillary is a strong leader and is respected the world over. As president, she will bring America back together, rebuild our prestige abroad and ensure our protection here at home.”
An aide to Mr. Spielberg, who was not available for comment, said he had made his decision several weeks ago, shortly before serving as the co-host of a fund-raiser for Senator Clinton on May 30 at the Santa Monica home of Peter Chernin, the president and chief operating officer of News Corp.
Mr. Spielberg had earlier lent his name to a February event organized by his DreamWorks partners David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, which raised $1.3 million for Mr. Obama. But his political adviser, Andy Spahn, cautioned even then that Mr. Spielberg had a friendship with Senator Clinton that dated back to her husband’s 1992 presidential campaign.
In past presidential years Mr. Spielberg has made some personal appearances and held general-election fund-raisers, but his role in the Clinton campaign going forward is unclear, Mr. Spahn said. The timing of the endorsement had as much to do with his schedule as anything: Mr. Spielberg is in pre-production now and will begin shooting the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise next week.
Tags:Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, New York Times, Steven Spielberg
BHATTATHIRI said
am June 4 2008 @ 7:24 am
Excellant and informative. Obama’s management is a process of aligning people and getting them committed to work for a common goal to the maximum social benefit - in search of excellence. Major functions of a manager are planning, organizing, leading and coordinating activities — they put different emphasis and suggest different natures of activities in the following four major functions..
The critical question in all managers’ minds is how to be effective in their job. The answer to this fundamental question is found in the Bhagavad-Gita, which repeatedly proclaims that “you must try to manage yourself.” The reason is that unless a manager reaches a level of excellence and effectiveness, he or she will be merely a face in the crowd. Wish him a great victory. Let Boby Jindal be the vice president.