Clint Eastwood's misty eyes playing for Detroit
Clint Eastwood has thrown his hat into the ring with a SuperBowl half-time advert on behalf of, nominally, Chrysler but widely seen as pro-Detroit in general. Actually, it's much more than that.
Outside the USA, there isn't a lot of interest in whatever "The Superbowl" is. And, honestly, this writer neither knows nor cares. It's some sporting thing.
Many people remember it solely because of the wall-to-wall coverage of Janet Jackson's boob falling out of her dress. The half-time adverts that generate the highest fees of the year for the television companies are generally local US-orientated ads and of zero interest outside their own fans. But they still get acres of media coverage. One is getting special attention.
watch the ad:
Some are arguing that it's a political ad.
Some, such as Wolf Blitzer, a right-wing talking head, claim that it's a campaign speech for Obama.
Others, say it's a pro-Republican campaign ad - promoting unity and family values, the traditional ground of the centre-right.
Watch the ad. This writer can't see either of those partisan positions. Or perhaps can see both - and others, too.
Instead of being pro-any party, it is pro-America It is a stirring battle-cry to Americans to pull together, to restore the American values and American dreams. It is an unusually powerful, socially aware, important ad. It is, simply, patriotic.
At the end, the company that paid for it, makes a simple, one-line, white on black, pitch. "Imported from America," it says.