Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Rewatch “The American President”

graphic by lucinda strol

November 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the film The American President starring major A-list actors like Annette Benning, Michael Douglas, Michael J. Fox, and Anna Deavere Smith. The now-classic film balances fiction and ~romance~ through the lens of character. 

The American President is actually written by an SU alum named Aaron Sorkin (yet another one of our alums reaching new heights), who is most well-known for his work on The Social Network. While The American President might not be as widely circulated as his other films (unless you count the million times it airs a rerun), you cannot help but notice some similarities between the fictional race of President Andrew Shepherd versus Senator Bob Rumson and the race between Trump and Biden. Minus a few wardrobe updates and a better haircut on a few of the actors, the film might as well have been made in 2020.

It’s no mistake that both of these alums, Biden and Sorkin, appear to question what it means to have good character and why it’s important for a good president. As one of the main characters says at the end of The American President, “I can tell without hesitation being president of this country is entirely about character.” This forces us current SU students to ask: do we have a specific duty to look at character when it is time to vote?

Even today, amidst all the chaos and racial injustice in our country, the character of our political candidates is still an important factor. In fact, we saw this during the presidential debates when Trump claimed that Biden was “ all talk and no action.” How fitting for someone to say such a thing about his opponent when others may actually define his character the same way. But even Biden used the concept of character as part of his closing argument. Perhaps this is something he felt voters were missing from him, or maybe he just wanted to reemphasize the lack of character his opponent has. 

As John Mahoney’s character says in the film, “Politics is perception.” If that is true, then it is clear that the character and the perceived integrity of our political candidates may be a more important part of the conversation than we previously realized. 2020 has certainly been a year of reckoning, but now it seems that character is at the center of it all. The question is, whose character do you want representing you?