"Hollywood is one of those places where, traditionally, money has come from - along with New York, Texas, Florida, Silicon Valley in northern California and the unions. But because of the Internet and the way campaigns are financed these days, you don't need traditional financing as much as you used to - and Barack Obama has tapped into that in a big way. But at the end of the day, people in Hollywood care more about [the presidency] than just the trappings of it and the surface type stuff. They care about the issues"
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Then he pivots to the Internet and Obama-era fundraising, which is less a tech note than a shift in legitimacy. Traditional financing suggests gatekeepers, bundlers, smoke-filled donor rooms. Online fundraising suggests a crowd, a movement, a candidate who can translate enthusiasm into cash without begging a handful of patrons. Reiner frames Obama as someone who doesnt merely benefit from this change but understands it: he has "tapped into that in a big way", implying strategic fluency rather than luck.
The final move is reputational triage. Hollywood, in this telling, is not seduced by photo ops or West Wing fantasy; it is motivated by policy. That claim is both earnest and defensive, because Reiner knows the stereotype: actors chasing proximity to power, mistaking glamor for governance. By insisting they care about "the issues", he tries to convert celebrity attention into civic seriousness, staking a moral argument for why Hollywoods political engagement should be taken as participation, not pageantry.
Quote Details
| Topic | Internet |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Reiner, Rob. (2026, January 11). Hollywood is one of those places where, traditionally, money has come from - along with New York, Texas, Florida, Silicon Valley in northern California and the unions. But because of the Internet and the way campaigns are financed these days, you don't need traditional financing as much as you used to - and Barack Obama has tapped into that in a big way. But at the end of the day, people in Hollywood care more about [the presidency] than just the trappings of it and the surface type stuff. They care about the issues. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hollywood-is-one-of-those-places-where-173695/
Chicago Style
Reiner, Rob. "Hollywood is one of those places where, traditionally, money has come from - along with New York, Texas, Florida, Silicon Valley in northern California and the unions. But because of the Internet and the way campaigns are financed these days, you don't need traditional financing as much as you used to - and Barack Obama has tapped into that in a big way. But at the end of the day, people in Hollywood care more about [the presidency] than just the trappings of it and the surface type stuff. They care about the issues." FixQuotes. January 11, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hollywood-is-one-of-those-places-where-173695/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Hollywood is one of those places where, traditionally, money has come from - along with New York, Texas, Florida, Silicon Valley in northern California and the unions. But because of the Internet and the way campaigns are financed these days, you don't need traditional financing as much as you used to - and Barack Obama has tapped into that in a big way. But at the end of the day, people in Hollywood care more about [the presidency] than just the trappings of it and the surface type stuff. They care about the issues." FixQuotes, 11 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hollywood-is-one-of-those-places-where-173695/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
