Mark Hamill is a well-known Biden fanboy. He seemed genuinely pleased by his opportunity to visit his Uncle Joe at work today.
I was nine years old in 1977, when Hamill first appeared as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars pilot film. That was almost fifty years ago.
Today Hamill is a 72-year-old former actor. He will always be respected for his work in the first three Star Wars movies. (He’s received decidedly mixed reviews on the more recent ones.) But in the late 1970s, Star Wars was a cultural phenomenon, and Mark Hamill was Taylor Swift-level famous. Trust me, I was there.
Like many fading Hollywood stars of the Baby Boomer and Gen X generations, Hamill has turned his attention to politics. And like most of Hollywood, he’s a shill for the Democratic Party.
Hamill is not, from what I can tell, a far-left radical. He’s a boilerplate, establishment Democrat. Nor is he as obnoxious as Alyssa Milano.
But Hamill is cringeworthy at times. For example, in the run-up to the 2020 election, he said that “the Force is with Joe Biden.” Today he called Joe Biden “Joe B Wan Kenobi”.
A “Skywalker effect” in 2024?
Readers who are pleased with Joe Biden’s performance will think that all of this cheerleading from Hamill (and his fellow celebrities) is grand stuff. But will Mark Hamill persuade any voters who are on the fence?
My guess is: voters who are willing to take political advice from celebrities have already decided to vote for Joe Biden. It’s doubtful that any Hollywood celebrity can ever do more than preach to the Democratic choir.
The rest of us may have fond memories of Luke Skywalker. But Joe Biden reminds us of Grand Moff Tarkin on sleeping pills.