Eastwood's RNC speech embodies ridiculousness in the Republican Party

Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republican National Convention was emblematic of the absurdity that has plagued the Republican Party in recent years. Lack of preparedness aside, Eastwood gave a speech in which he did two things: he hypocritically declared his support for Mitt Romney and created a personality for President Obama that Republicans wish exists even though it does not.

Eastwood has described himself as a Libertarian, opposing most wars including the war in Afghanistan, which he addressed in his speech at the RNC.  As for Eastwood’s nominee, while Governor Romney says he supports taking troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, he also says that he will defer to the generals, most of whom support the war. Mitt Romney has been vocal about the possibility of military intervention in Iran. Romney’s military hawkishness cannot possibly be attractive to Eastwood, who has opposed every war since Korea. But who else would Eastwood vote for--Obama? Not a chance. So he has done what most Republicans have done this election cycle: he settled for who the Republicans have offered.

Toward the end of his speech, Eastwood said “we don’t have to be mental masochists and vote for somebody we don’t really want in office.” Perhaps some of the convention speakers should take his advice. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rand Paul, Susanna Martinez and John Kasich all had opposed Romney and then decided to settle because they were stuck with him. The Republicans this year failed to find a candidate they actually wanted in office. They settled for Mitt Romney.

Eastwood’s representation of President Obama as hot tempered is a tactic that has been used often to energize the Republican base. Eastwood’s Obama-chair ostensibly retorts that Clint should shut up or get lost, which helps Republicans see Obama as someone who is angry and hates real Americans. In reality, this relationship is the other way around. Republicans have called the president a Communist, a Muslim (which I was confused to discover is an insult,) a thug, etc. The president has remained calm and polite and he has not used similar attacks to push his agenda. Eastwood’s depiction of the president switches the rhetorical roles of each party and it is possibly the biggest tool the Republicans can use in this election.

And that is what Clint Eastwood was at this convention—a tool. He was a tool that the Republicans used to electrify their base, falsely demonizing President Obama in order to make the constituents forget that they are settling for a flip-flopping empty shell millionaire.

Opinions expressed in this column are solely the beliefs of the writer. 

Nick Collins is the co-president of the College Democrats at Mason. 

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