Thanks for not spoiling it, Mr. President
SPOILER ALERT: If you are a "House" fan and haven't seen last night's episode yet, do not click to read more.
Dr. Lawrence Kutner inexplicably committed suicide in the first act of last night's "House, M.D.," and Michael Ausiello over at Entertainment Weekly broke the real-life story behind the fiction: Actor Kal Penn is joining President Obama's White House staff as a liaison of some sort. He worked for the campaign and taught two courses at the University of Pennsylvania last year, and, according to IMDB, "is in the process of earning a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University." So he's no dummy.
I think it's cool that an actor is actually getting involved in politics instead of just shooting his mouth off. He told Ausiello that he'll be taking a huge pay cut, so it's not like he's in it for the dough.
But here's what most intrigues me about this story: Did the White House agree to not announce Penn's post just so an episode of a TV show wouldn't be spoiled?
Now, normally, someone taking a post in the White House Office of Liaison wouldn't merit news coverage -- I hadn't even heard of it before today -- but the hiring of a popular film and TV actor would be. And the announcement of his new job didn't come from the White House, it came from Entertainment-freaking-Weekly. Ausiello was hyping his scoop all day yesterday, and unleashed it in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. At the same time, Fox launched its Lawrence Kutner memorial site where fans can leave messages of sympathy -- for a fictional character.
It sure looks to me like the White House participated in a ratings stunt with the cooperation of Fox TV and the producers of "House," which, I guess, is not all that surprising seeing as Obama has all of Hollywood in his back pocket. But between this and Obama forcing out CEOs (and threatening to do more), one has to wonder what else he wants to do.
Will he force John Paxson to make him the Bulls' starting point guard?
Will he have George Lucas digitally insert him into the "Star Wars" movies for a Special Presidential Edition?
Did Obama make Ajira 316 crash on the island?
Is he, in fact, a Bonus Jonas?!?
Obama in Star Wars. That's silly.
I would wonder if the White House was trying to downplay the fact that they hired Kumar of pot movie fame. I don't think it's all that strange for a new employer to agree to help with a smooth transition from an old job...these just happened to be two very high-profile jobs.