Clint Eastwood Takes RNC Stage With ‘President Obama’

Tampa, FL – Actor and director Clint Eastwood was confirmed earlier this afternoon as the much-speculated RNC “mystery speaker,” and he did indeed appear as the TBA guest just ahead of Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney himself.

We’re just not really sure what he was trying to say.

It played out like a vaudeville skit. Eastwood announced that he had President Obama sitting with him, motioning to an empty chair next to him. It was a symbolic bit, and we get what he was trying to say for the most part. In what amounted to a mostly bizarre performance, Eastwood began by reassuring the American people that there are indeed conservatives in Hollywood (they just play it “close to the vest”), before engaging into a sort of call-and-response with the empty chair meant to represent President Obama.

In the bit, Eastwood touched on many things that Obama’s opponents tend to touch on. He addressed Guantanamo, the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, and briefly poked fun at Joe Biden. But it wasn’t until after the presidential “roast” that Eastwood got to the meat of his speech, in which he laid it out simply: Obama just hasn’t done his job.

Indeed probably the most important part of Eastwood’s speech was the part where he reminded us that politicians are supposed to be our employees, before stressing that we do still have a choice and don’t have to vote for a candidate fatalistically “Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, Libertarian…” He stressed that America is exceptional and talked about the GOP’s call to return America to exceptionalism. He then turned this on Obama, saying simply, “when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.”

Hearing calls from the audience to say his famous Sudden Impact line, Eastwood gave in momentarily, but then urged the audience “I’ll start, you finish it. Go ahead,” and motioning to the audience, who responded “make my day!”

We’re not sure what that had to do with politics or Mr. Eastwood’s speech, but hey. It’s Clint Eastwood. We’re not going to make fun of him.

Did you see Clint Eastwood’s speech? What did you think?