A long time friend and ally, Richard Jacobs is co-founder and chair of Brave New Films and co-executive producer of Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers. He received the Eugene V. Debs Award (on behalf of Brave New Films). He is also chair of the Courage Campaign, an independent political committee on progressive issues in California, chaired the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in California and serves as Senior Advisor to Democracy for America. He is a featured contributor on Arianna Huffington's HuffingtonPost.com and has been published in various newspapers including the Los Angeles Times for his insight on the local and national political landscape. Today, he writes a timely piece about Hollywood, wealth in politics and the grassroots.

Billionaire and Candidates Fight in Hollywood
By Richard Jacobs

What a perfect headline for the Republicans. Or maybe for John Edwards. All of a sudden, Los Angeles is atwitter about not just the Oscars this weekend, but about those who make the films and think they should make the president. Hollywood and Washington have enjoyed an odd magnetic attraction for decades, certainly since the time of Ronald Reagan and arguably since the Camelot days of JFK. But that magnetic yin and yang solidified when Bill Clinton became the president from Hollywood, as comfortable at a Bel Air mansion as at a McDonald’s. Ever since, anyone who wants to be president has made the pilgrimage, often on numerous occasions, hoping for cash and a bit of buzz from the royalty of the entertainment capital.

But then, after the parties are over and the money is counted, people in Hollywood actually believe that these candidates will seek their advice. Instead, they run from Malibu as fast as they can, hoping that the folks in Iowa or New Hampshire or Kansas won’t notice that their favorite candidate was recently hobnobbing with a game show host. To those who read this elegant blog, the oblique reference above to the spat between Mogul Geffen, now on behalf of Senator Obama, and President Expectant Hillary Clinton, is all too obvious. I even heard stories about it on BBC World News tonight.

The good news is that no one in the “body politic” knows who David Geffen is or cares much about who is running for president. With just about twelve months before the votes are counted in the early (and now determinant) primaries, the candidates are already acting as if the last days are near. The public is not interested. David Geffen is a business genius who made his billions through his own acumen and pluck. In many ways, he is the classic American success story, having come from little and becoming a lot. And with those billions comes the opportunity to say what you want to whomever you want. It just does not matter to him.

What does matter is that the grassroots that became the netroots in the 2003 Howard Dean campaign have no place in the world of titans. If Senator Obama can swoop in, make a million or two from a glittery event and then head out to Iowa, not even bothering to stop in Nevada where all of the other candidates are, why should those folks who raised tens of millions of dollars for Dean even bother? They are not needed. And If Senator Clinton can do likewise, all the while sniping at that same billionaire for sniping at her, what’s in it for my parents in East Tennessee? Well, nothing.

A very high ranking Republican staffer told me recently that if the US is in Iraq a year from now, it won’t matter who the nominees are: the Democrat will win. That seems true and that of course increases the stakes. But most of America, who cares little for politics and not at all for politicians, and sees a Bush administration that feathered the nest of its own oligarchs, why in the world would Democrats even mention the billionaire word?

The Courage Campaign, a progressive independent political entity I founded eighteen months ago, has pushed hard to have the California primary moved forward to 5 February 2008. It looks like a sure thing. And that looks like a good thing. I for one could care less what Mr. Geffen thinks about one candidate or another. I would like to hear what all of the candidates have to say about issues that affect our state, issues such as education, immigration, healthcare, transportation, the environment, equal rights and real access to a dynamic economy. I am not aligned with any candidate right now, but after what’s happened in the land where big films are eclipsed only by bigger egos, John Edwards seems ahead simply by sticking to his knitting. He is talking about what matters, not about who catered.

So from Los Angeles, days before the Oscars, swarming in parties that will result in bruised egos for those left out, I beseech our candidates to lead, to teach and to learn from America. We crave new, strong, moral leaders who understand this nation and its place in the world, who have gotten stuck in our traffic, frustrated by closed beaches, angry at having to pay $30,000 in tuition for junior high school AFTER TAX or angrier still that the lack of available medical care leads our kids to drop out of school. We want a candidate who understands that the war in Iraq is not only detrimental to our national security, but is in fact a poor people’s war, fought by those who cannot find jobs in our own civilian economy.

Raise the money you think you need, but please remember that ordinary people vote and it’s those ordinary people who are America’s heart and soul. Talk to us. Lead us.