Into the heat of this political season comes this slender volume published by the Creative Coalition which poses the question: "What would you say if you had five minutes of private face time with the next president of the United States?"
The editors asked that question of fifty-five celebrities and received wildly divergent responses. I must admit: when I perused the list of "well-known" personalities on the back of the book, I had to laugh a bit, because it reads rather like a B-list talent show. And I did have a few uncharitable thoughts, like, "Gee, is Tim Matheson still alive?" That said, the book does contain some interesting cultural insights insofar as it represents the thinking of a cross-section of those involved in media and entertainment. I think that many of them answered the question as if they were speaking to the current president rather than a hypothetical "next" office holder (perhaps it's a sense of resignation, or a desire to vent). And some - like comedienne Caroline Rhea - clearly used up far more than the allotted five minutes (although she apparently would use her time to engage in a comedic monologue with the president as straight man).
The book features perspectives from Ron Silver's "existential question" about the danger posed by twenty-first century terrorism and the threat of terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction (in which he ponders whether "our values are universally applicable" and whether we should be asking whether "peace is preferable to war" or rather "peace at what cost?") to Mike Farrell's effort to fashion an entire presidential platform in five minutes (proclaim that discrimination of any type is contrary to American values, declare the preservation of our earth an urgent priority, stop building "redundant" weapons systems and instead rebuild our nation's schools and return arts, music and culture to the educational curriculum, stop tolerating homelessness and joblessness, devise a national health care system - geez, I'm thinking Farrell is going to have to talk fast to cover this in five minutes, and he may not be able to take a breath).
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