Hollywood has avoided political apathy. Many of the films that dominated this year's awards season – "Zero Dark Thirty", "Argo", "Lincoln", "Django Unchained" – focus on controversial political issues. They establish rough cuts of the historical record that prioritize entertainment over accuracy.
The movie "Lincoln" offers a remarkable portrait of the American political machine. Its lesson for Obama: You have to get your hands dirty to get the work done in Washington.
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Hollywood movies appeal to the emotions, not to the historical record. As long as we've got Wikipedia to fact-check in real time, that's just fine.
Hollywood has always been an eager accomplice of Washington's political elites. But over the past few years, it has foreshadowed the decline of neoconservative ideology.
Don't look to Hollywood for historical truths: Movies like "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" are based on fairy-tales rather than fact.
