I smell *really* good right now. For the life of me, I cannot determine why.

The American President is on TV tonight. I know I'm going to end up watching it. I couldn't tell you why every time TBS plays The American President I can't rip my eyes from it. Why? The slow, careful romance of one Michael Douglas and one Annette Benning played out alongside the easy humor of Michael J. Fox, my sometimes alter-ego, that's why.

Crap, it just started. Here comes the score, the one that's played over a thousand different movie trailers. Now they're panning over White House paintings of Harry Truman and Andrew Jackson. Sigh. There goes the next two and a half hours.

It's funny, when I saw this movie when it came out I didn't catch the politics at all. If I saw it for the first time today, I don't think I'd enjoy it quite so unconditionally, even though I agree with Michael Douglas's--er, Aaron Sorkin's stances on gun control, environment et al. The portrayal of Bob Rumson, the Republican opponent, is a little over the top. I mean, there's actually a scene depicting a group of Republican senators sitting drinking brandy in a drawing room cackling and talking about hunting. Granted, if the political world of The American President was like the political world of reality, and Republicans hid in secret rooms plotting to put an evil, cackling Richard Dreyfuss in power, then yeah, I could see myself supporting a Democratic candidate without any qualms whatsoever.

Incidentally, the absence of Annette Benning wearing only a white oxford shirt may be the reason I never caught on with TV's The West Wing.