It’s been nearly a month since we found out the Netflix documentary “produced” by Barack and Michelle Obama, American Factory, was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary.
American Factory debuted on Netflix in August and was the Obamas’ first project under Higher Ground Productions. American Factory follows the story of a closed GM plant that was bought and re-opened by a Chinese billionaire. It wasn’t shocking at all to find out the Obama-linked project was nominated for an Oscar. Had the Obamas been linked to Howard The Duck it would have been nominated for an Oscar. It was also not surprising that American Factory won the award Sunday night. The Obamas were not in attendance, however.
I’ve not watched the documentary, nor do I plan to, but no one will be able to convince me that it would have been nominated or won the Oscar had the Obamas not been linked to the project.
Liberal political figures have found Hollywood to be very willing to bestow accolades upon them. In fact, if you look at the Grammy nominations and winners for Best Spoken Word Album, you’ll find a lot of Democrat politicians and pundits have a knack for getting recognized, while their conservative counterparts don’t even get nominated. Nominees for Best Spoken Word Album include Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Al Franken, and Jesse Jackson. All of them won at least once. And, of course, Barack Obama has won two Grammy awards for Best Spoken Word Album, and Michelle Obama won her own Grammy a couple of weeks ago in the same category for her memoir, Becoming.
Anything the Obamas touch will be celebrated by default. That’s what Hollywood does.
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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