My Name Isn't "Hillary," But I Play Her on TV

So you're Hillary Clinton.  Which is probably pretty awesome a fair amount of the time.

But what do you make of the fact that there is a TV show (some would argue there have been two) about you running for/being president?  You gotta like the caliber of actor playing you: what lady doesn't like the idea of the lady who was Ripley playing her?

And maybe the spin on Political Animals is that it isn't about Hillary, per se.  But...



...they used the same friggin' font and design on the "Elaine" political signs as Hillary's campaign signs (to say nothing of the whole "former First Lady, current Secretary of State, cheating husband" thing), so I'm going to go ahead and call BS on that one.

Side note from the theater girl in me: I love Ciarin Hinds, but he is not Bubba.  He's an Irish dude who has rocked the uptight Brit for years.  There's no way I buy "Bud" being as popular or magnetic as Bubba.  It is a great cast, with pretty good writing, though.

(Mild Spoiler Alert) It's interesting that the Political Animals folks wanted HIllary to dump Bubba.  And that they believe Bubba (excuse me "Bud") would fall in popularity if she had.  I don't think that's the way these things work, and I also know that conventional wisdom at the time was that if she dumped him, her popularity would go down (and that she'd never have been elected to the Senate).  But the show writers (Spoiler Alert) wanted Hillary to dump Bill after she lost the presidential bid.  I still think she would have been viewed as calculating, and out to blame him for the loss.  I also don't think political supporters get to choose what the politicians they support do in their private lives.  They get to vote differently based on it, but to think we know what goes on in Hillary and Bill's marriage - let alone know better than Hillary what she should do - is patronizing at best.

This show feels like a feminist dream about being able to talk with Hillary about why she stays with Bill/getting her to leave him, and about getting her elected.  I'm pretty amazed it got to Air.  Less amazed that it's on USA rather than HBO or Showtime or the main networks, I guess.  It's way too girly for HBO, right?  Maybe if there were more sex it would have a chance.  Or if Bubba were the hero - or ooh, if he were a vampire.

So I don't want to spoil the show too much, but it's a pretty darn interesting phenomenon.  I can't help feeling like it's very much a pro-Hillary piece that I'm not sure will work for people who aren't pro-Hillary.

As a Hillary Girl, who has looked up to Hillary since 1991, I still find it pretty weird.  Though I did enjoy it :-)