More Freedom Weekend Reading: Frank Rich on Wall-E for Prez

Frank Rich of the New York Times decides to take in a summer movie to escape the political tit for tatting, only to discover how Wall-E resonates with his mood and where we are in the scheme of things. Read it. A couple of excerpts:

For all the hyperventilation on the left about Mr. Obama's rush to the center - some warranted, some not - what's more alarming is how small-bore and defensive his campaign has become. Whether he's reaffirming his long-held belief in faith-based programs or fudging his core convictions about government snooping, he is drifting away from the leadership he promised and into the focus-group-tested calculation patented by Mark Penn in his disastrous campaign for Hillary Clinton. Mr. Obama's Wednesday address calling for renewed public service is unassailable in principle but inadequate to the daunting size of the serious American crisis at hand. The speech could have been - and has been - delivered by any candidate of either party in any election year since 1960.

... Mr. McCain should be required to see 'Wall-E' to learn just how far adrift he is from an America whose economic fears cannot be remedied by his flip-flop embrace of the Bush tax cuts (for the wealthy) and his sham gas-tax holiday (for everyone else). Mr. Obama should see it to be reminded of just how bold his vision of change had been before he settled into a front-runner's complacency. Americans should see it to appreciate just how much things are out of joint on an Independence Day when a cartoon robot evokes America's patriotic ideals with more conviction than either of the men who would be president.