…the first “Hollywood president,” two decades prior to Reagan. (JFK was Marilyn Monroe’s pal; his dad founded the studio that became RKO; he consciously nurtured his own screen image.)

But NY Times arts-section vet Frank Rich we’ve now got another administration-as-screenplay at work:

“No president has worked harder than George W. Bush to tell his story as a spectacle, much of it fictional, to rivet his constituents while casting himself in an unfailingly heroic light. Yet this particular movie may have gone on too long and have too many plot holes. It may have been too clever by half. It may have given Mr. Kerry just the opening he needs to win.”

Rich contrasts this image with that of Kerry, whom Rich characterizes as a long-winded policy wonk who threatens to lull audiences to sleep. Rich doesn’t get that we’re on the cusp of what I’ve called the long-attention-span generation. Yeah, Kerry appeals to all-day C-SPAN viewers. But his nuanced, carefully-paced language might also appeal to those who buy the extra-extra-long Lord of the Rings DVDs, who listen to interminable guitar solos by “jam bands,” or who’ve embraced poker as the fastest-growing TV sport.