Ever since a mediocre B-film actor ascended to the White House two decades ago in a fake tan, conventional wisdom has held that our politics crib rather too heavily from the movies. But on the evidence of last night’s 79th Academy Awards ceremony, the balance of influence has changed direction, and Hollywood has begun to plagiarize the staid dress code, bland, mawkish plotting, and robotic countenances that typify the Washington D.C. theatrical style. Karl Rove must have blushed.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every Oscars is the most boring ever, but this year’s edition was unique among the thirty-plus I have watched for its total discipline in staying on message. How appropriate then that the only fun all evening was had at the expense of Al Gore, who, when egged by Leonardo DiCaprio to announce that he was going to run for president again, got curtailed by the orchestra. Gore was in on the joke of course — that he was being treated like a director of animated shorts or a foreign-speaking costumer guilty of exceeding his allotted stage time. But really, wasn’t he just being treated as the former next president of the United States (as he likes to call himself)? The win last night for best documentary notwithstanding, Gore embodies the sad sack condition of American democracy: he is the people’s choice, but a choice revocable by invisible authorities stationed in the wings.

Funny stuff maybe, but this is gallows humor.