For Tom Hanks and HBO Obama Is Boring

That Tom Hanks and HBO think Barack Obama is boring is being hinted at from right and left.

Byron York was one of the first to point out how strange it is that HBO's Game Change has no interest in the dominant story of the book Game Change: the fight between Hillary and Obama for the nomination and then Obama's history making win as first black president of the United States.

"Why did Hollywood focus on only one-half of 'Game Change'? The other half would have made a great movie.

"It was certainly the most compelling part of the book, with no end of dramatic moments. The Clinton-Obama version of 'Game Change' could have focused on the racially charged effort among white Democrats to stop the first black man with a serious chance of winning their party's presidential nomination."
. . .
"And most of all, the alternate 'Game Change' would have provided insights into the man who became president of the United States.

"But somehow, that movie didn't get made. Instead, HBO decided to focus on an out-of-office, former half-term governor of Alaska who was on the losing ticket in the 2008 election and isn't running for anything today.

"Everyone knows that Hollywood, the entertainment industry as a whole, and much of the liberal establishment all suffer from a continuing obsession with Palin. So in the end, it's no surprise HBO turned 'Game Change' into a Palin biopic. But in the process, they ignored a historic, compelling and profoundly dramatic story."
[emphasis added]

Historic, compelling, profoundly dramatic? For Byron York, yes. Not for Hanks and HBO.

Then there's Jason Apuzzo at HuffPo:

"Game Change is HBO's adaptation of the book of the same name about the 2008 Presidential election, penned by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. Crucially, that book depicted both sides of the 2008 campaign -- dwelling mostly on the epic Democratic Party primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, something left out completely from HBO's movie.

"That the film's producers -- who include Tom Hanks -- dropped the Clinton-vs.-Obama side of the book altogether has opened Game Change up to legitimate charges of partisanship, as has the film's depiction of Palin as mercurial and unbalanced."
. . .
It would've been interesting to watch a frothy version of this film featuring Hillary and Bill, Barack and Michelle. What, there's no drama there?"
[emphasis added]

Game Change Producer Tom Hanks

Apparently there's no drama for Hanks/HBO. To Tom Hanks and HBO Barack Obama is, well, dull. Alternatively, Hanks/HBO's hatred for Palin may have overwhelmed their interest in Obama and his historic presidency. In either case Hanks/HBO's Game Change shows a significant lack in creative thinking and artistry. Hanks the producer in honing in on the main story is third rate and dull--unlike either Barack Obama or Sarah Palin. Though maybe Hanks and HBO backhandedly hit it right that Palin's story is actually more "historic, compelling and profoundly dramatic" than Obama's. Only time will tell.