WHITE HOUSE DOWN EXPLOITS OBAMAPHOBIA
Radical opponents of President Barack Obama wish that he would somehow be deposed. White House Down, directed by Roland Emmerich, fulfills that fantasy for a few minutes. But most of the time the action film focuses on the takeover of the White House, including hostages, and efforts of John Cale (played by muscle-bulging Channing Tatum) to save the president singlehandedly. Although dramatic music drowns out the dialog, and there is a lot of shooting and muscle display, two political themes are played out. First, Obama’s counterpart, President James Sawyer (played by Jamie Foxx), is portrayed as relatively passive rather than presidential, mumbling most of the time and speculating that he is a victim of the “military industrial” complex. The second theme is about who would take such dastardly measures to depose him. The pretext for the coup appears to be that the president has made some sort of deal with Iran, is withdrawing all American troops from the Middle East, and his political opponents are so upset that they seek to reverse course by installing a new president. Curiosity about who is behind the conspiracy and why provides the real film’s suspense. At the risk of providing a “spoiler,” we learn—more than halfway into the film—that the hired guns are white racists. But who hired them? Martin Walker (played by James Woods) appears to be in command, seeking a ton of cash, but economic gain seems an unlikely motive. What motivates him, we later learn, is the death of his son in some sort of military operation involving Iran, and we are to believe that he wants to depose the president in retaliation. But he has been set up by the real plotter. Again, the story is entirely implausible from start to finish. MH