You Have A Mother Don’t You? 
Andrew O’Hagan
- Searching for John Ford: A Life by Joseph McBride
It’s odd to think that Abraham Lincoln was killed by an actor, because most of the memorable American Presidents to follow him were actors in their blood. Eisenhower excelled in the part of the sturdy veteran who’d come home to tidy the porch, and Nixon was every part in The Godfather rolled into one. But it took Ronald Reagan to drive the matter past the point of absurdity: president of the Screen Actors’ Guild as well as star of Bedtime for Bonzo. The person who today seems most like a real President is Martin Sheen, who plays one in The West Wing.[1] George W. Bush – the less real real President – has settled for the part of a B-movie cowboy, and takes his role very seriously. Only the other day he was talking about ‘riding herd’ with the Middle East peace process.
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Andrew O’Hagan’s The Atlantic Ocean, a collection of essays on Britain and America, will be published in June. Be Near Me, his last novel, has been shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Other articles by this contributor:
At the Design Museum · Peter Saville
Disgrace under Pressure · Andrew O’Hagan reads some lad mags
In His Hot Head · Robert Louis Stevenson
The Things We Throw Away · The Garbage of England
How to Survive Your Own Stupidity · Homage to Laurel and Hardy
Iraq, 2 May 2005 · Two Soldiers
The God Squad · Andrew O’Hagan in Bushland
A Journey in the South · Andrew O’Hagan travels to New Orleans
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