Saturday, December 01, 2007
A Democrat Breaks Silence on Broadway Strike
The New York Sun: "A Democratic presidential hopeful, John Edwards, will put other leading White House contenders in an awkward position by announcing today that he supports the striking Broadway stagehands."
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3 comments:
I don't think i've ever heard Broadway being described as a little industry that only effects tourists, but that goes to show how isolated theater can get. This article is right when it says that the Broadway strike really only has a local impact while the WGA strike has a nation wide scope. And yet politicians fear repercussions from Broadway far more than those from Hollywood.
I guess I don't quite understand why there is so much risk in backing one side of the Broadway strike. Like the article points out, the WGA strike has a much larger impact than the Broadway strike, theoretically, and it seems like a risk I can see someone wanting to take if it means gaining votes that he feels are needed. I think there's definitely some tact in play here considering neither Clinton nor Obama has said anything about the strikes and Edwards wants something to set him apart as someone other than that candidate who ran once before. It's also a really impactful political stand to take as a democrat in support of the little guys wanting a pay check for their families. Very tricky, Edwards.
I'll be curious to hear if this is noted again or if other candidates have anything to say. Also, why is it that I haven't read anything about Clinton and Obama backing the writiers? I read the news, and this is coming out of nowhere.
It was nice to hear that the Broadway strike was too small and sticky for politicians to get into. In the SOD it seemed like the biggest event ever--but we have such an expanded view of the issue, the majority of America had no idea it was going on. The $2 million a day figure helped put things in perspective a little bit for me personally, while on an individual basis, that is a ton of money, in terms of the $ that flow in and out of NYC it's probably just a drop in the bucket. It was also nice to hear the political focus was on the strike that had the most national impact rather than regional, Broadway is something the world can function effectively without--not to say TV/Film isnt--but to hear it described as small potatoes on a national scale put things in relation to the bigger picture.
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