New film shows the "candidates" sans image

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18 SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 1992 "Feed," a film produced and directed by Kevin Rafferty and James Ridgeway.

"Feed" is a new documentary about the current crop of presidential candidates. It was filmed as they waited for a cue to begin addressing a TV camera with material that will be fed by satellite to network TV.

The film contains intercepted satellite television "feeds" as well as footage shot during the New Hampshire primary to give viewers a 360 degree look at the men who are running for president.

The entire slate of socially sanctioned candidates (George Bush, Bill Clinton, Jerry Brown, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, Paul Isongas, Bob Kerry, and Tom Harkin) are shown. Not shown are any of the socialist candidates, or even Larry Agran, the most "progressive" of the Democrats, who apparently didn't merit network coverage.

"Feed" is a behind the scenes look at the private men behind the public personas, stripped of the punditry and pageantry that surround them, waiting to mouth the promises and platitudes that make up electioneering in this country today.

There is Bill ('I didn't inhale") Clinton and Jerry (he didn't exhale) Brown primping in front of the mirror, burnishing up their image for the unseen and invisible millions. "I just want them to look at me and think I could be president," says Clinton.

There is George Bush in front of his first cash register in New Hampshire. "That's amazing, " he says of the automatic scanning device. "When are they going to get those everywhere?" Paul Tsongas doesn't come off too much better. He's asked by an angry crowd if he knows how much it costs to live nowadays, if he knows how much a gallon of milk costs?

"Uh... $1.69?" Hoots from the audience. "Where do you buy your milk?" they jeer.

The pomp and pomposity of campaigns are evinced not only by the candidates, but by their followers, hangers-on, and aidesde-camp.

There is Arnold Schwarzenegger, flexing his muscles at a Bush rally, referring to all the Democratic candidates as "girlie-men."

There is Hillary Clinton, working the street, shaking hands with a homeless drunk, and asking him for his support. He tells her he has no home, no address, and therefore he can't vote. Whereupon, Hillary extricates herself from the handshake and climbs into her limousine.

The funniest of the lot is George Bush. The film opens with him behind his desk, waiting for his cue. He waits... and he waits. Every once in a while during the course of the film, the editors cut back to Bush, still waiting, still impassive, still implacable.

At the end of the film, there is George, still waiting, as the credits roll over him, giving new meaning to the term, "sitting president."

"Feed" is a hilarious look at the "men who would be king." But it begs the larger question, which is not what is the difference between the public and private personas of the people running for office but what class do they represent, and whose interests do they serve?

Everyone is nice or not nice, good-looking or not. Reagan was supposed to have been nice too... to his dog. The point is that they represent the teeth of their class, which is chewing all of us up.

Still, the film is a comedy of errors, a cautionary tale about the follies and foibles of the donkeys and the elephants. It can only leave the viewer aghast knowing that one of these men will be president of the United States.