Persistence of Vision

When Senator Barack Obama gave this year's commencement address at Wesleyan University, he had harsh words for those who would choose private enterprise over collective obligation:

You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and the other things that our money culture says you should buy. You can choose to narrow your concerns and live life in a way that tries to keep your story separate from America's.

But I hope you don't. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although I believe you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get to where you are today, although I do believe you have that debt to pay.

It's because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role that you'll play in writing the next great chapter in the American story.

While few would deny that Americans have obligations beyond their immediate wants and needs, Senator Obama's contemptuous opposition to "the big house," "the nice suits," and "our money culture" is tinged with the kinds of hypocrisy documented by MPI fellow Nick Tucker in his forthcoming documentary film Do As I Say. Adapted from the bestselling book by Peter Schweizer, Tucker's film highlights the many public figures who preach one philosophy but live by another.

Wesleyan graduates may have been uplifted by Mr. Obama's vision of "collective salvation." But they may not know that the same senator who dissuades them from chasing after big houses actually lives with his family in a stately $1.65 million Georgian-revival mansion, replete with four fireplaces, glass-door bookcases made from Honduran mahogany, and a thousand-bottle wine cellar. They may not realize that the politician who scathingly dismisses sartorial elegance was recenty named one of the world's best dressed men by Esquire magazine, thanks to his wardrobe of "sharply tailored two-piece suits" and his "peerless collection of light-blue ties." And they may not be aware that the candidate who rails against America's "money culture" is doing quite well for himself financially: In 2005, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle reported a combined income of $1.67 million, placing them well above America's median annual household income of $48,201.

Senator Obama is far from alone among public figures who criticize capitalism, private enterprise, and personal luxury while living comfortably and profitably within a system they profess to detest. Chasing similar hypocrisy from coast to coast, Tucker's Do As I Say gives us an extraordinary exposé of the Kennedys' oil profits and offshore accounts, the Clintons' predatory lending schemes, Michael Moore's secret stock portfolio and lavish lakeside mansion, Noam Chomsky's multi-million-dollar irrevocable trusts, and much, much more. The film is still in production, but you can visit DoAsISayMovie.com to view the trailer, read the filmmakers' blog, and sign up for a screening in your area.