Legal Commentary

Sean Penn on Obama: Not Ready to Endorse

By Jeralyn

The Cannes Film Festival is underway. Sean Penn and Natalie Portman were asked if they were going to jump on the Hollywood A-lister bandwagon and endorse Barack Obama. Sean Penn said:

”I don't have a candidate I'm supporting and I'm certainly interested and excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring,” he said, but went on to accuse him of a “phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional” voting record.

”I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be,” Penn said. “This is the most important election, certainly in my lifetime, and maybe ever.”

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Natalie Portman:

Portman, 26, said she would not be endorsing Obama or his rival, Hillary Clinton, but added: “I think it's a very exciting year for our politics, that for the first time in a while we have a choice of who we like better instead of who we hate least.”

I disagree with Penn that Obama's voting record is "inhuman and unconstitutional" -- that makes no sense to me. His other point, which I think is that Obama will never be able to live up to the hype his campaign has engendered, which in turn will fuel disappointment should he be elected, seems valid.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).