If one was so inclined to compare Barack Obama's Tuesday night Oval Office speech on the BP oil spill to a current summer movie, Sex and the City 2 would probably suffice. Goodness what a disaster. As MSNBC host Keith Olbermann said -- presumably with the glee of Rex Reed trashing SATC 2 -- "I thought it was a great speech if you've been on another planet for 57 days." OK, then! With this oil-and-watershed moment for President Obama now sinking in the rear view mirror, Movieline wonders which fictional president's could have done a better job last night. Answers ahead!
· President Thomas Whitmore from Independence Day
About one minute into his speech last night, President Obama was talking about the "team of our nation's best scientists and engineers" he put together "to tackle this challenge." Boo! Take some of the responsibility yourself, buddy. If President Obama was more like President Whitmore, he'd be getting in a submarine and journeying to the ocean floor right this minute.
· President Jackson Evans from The Contender
There's that name, of course -- which actually gives "Barack Obama" a run for its money -- but don't discount the fact that President Evans was able to deal with the oil-slick Machiavellian maneuvers of Gary Oldman's right-wing senator. Plus, he's played by Jeff Bridges. And The Dude always wins.
· David Palmer from 24
You've seen his commercials: You're in good hands with President Palmer. That he also has Jack Bauer in his pocket to potentially rough up BP executives along the way is just gravy.
· President Merkin Muffley from Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Don't pretend that Obama's speech wouldn't have gone better had he lead off with something like this: "I'm very sorry. All right, you're sorrier than I am, but I am as sorry as well. I am as sorry as you are. ... Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are... So we're both sorry, all right?... All right."
· President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from Pearl Harbor
OK, he's not totally fictional, but he is played by Jon Voight and does appear in a Michael Bay film -- so, split the difference? Regardless, the country needed an FDR-like moment from President Obama last night -- not a Jimmy Carter one. Maybe next time?