Is George Clooney set to run for President? Probably not. But if he decides to do so in the next few years his marriage to Amal Alamuddin can be pinpointed as the precise moment when voters started to take his candidacy seriously.
Bookies have started to slash the odds of Clooney becoming President after a flurry of bets suggested that marriage had made the actor more appealing to voters. Bookmaker William Hill originally had Clooney down at 200/1 to eventually become the President of the United States. But, following his marriage to Amal over the weekend, a flood of bets came in from members of the general public and this led to his odds being halved down to 100/1.
Rupert Adams, a spokesman for William Hill, has now been discussing their decision, noting , “Originally we did it as fun around the wedding. But people took it seriously, so we had to change the price. We could get up to a six-figure sum in the next week. The UK public doesn’t believe the US would vote a single man into the White House, and Clooney now has the whole package. He’s a genuine contendor[sic].”
There’s no doubting the fact that Clooney has an unerring passion for politics. Not only was he arrested back in 2012 while protesting against Sudan, he is a staunch human rights campaigner. He’s also publicly opposed the Iraq war, supported Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008, and been involved with the Not On Our Watch Project, which was organized to stop mass atrocities across the globe.
Meanwhile, he has also visited a number of troubled regions across the globe too, and he’s been hugely involved in attempts to resolve the Darfur conflict, which included visiting China and Egypt in an effort to convince their government to pressure Sudan into action, while he even sent an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling on the European Union to do the same.
But, despite his credentials, it doesn’t look as though Clooney would actually want the job. While promoting his political thriller, The Ides Of March, back in 2011, Clooney distanced himself from ever becoming President, claiming that the treatment of Barack Obama had put him off.
“As for me running for President – look, there’s a guy in office who is smarter than anybody you know, and nicer, and he’s having an almost impossible time governing. Why would anyone volunteer for that job? I have a very good job. So I have no interest.”
[Image via Spiegel ]
