This is undoubtedly a lovely image of two lovely people. What's the take out supposed to be? Are we to believe that Obama and Hillary deeply love and respect one another other and now regard their formers rival as treasured members of their extended family? Did Lauren Bacall ever swoon so completely when enthralled by Humphrey Bogart’s manly tones? Was Lois Lane ever more giddy when gliding through the clouds within Superman’s sturdy arms? Has Richard Hammond’s heart ever beat so violently when speeding through Normandy, France, beside Jeremy Clarkson within a newly minted Porsche two-seater?

Scarlett O’Hara was completely intoxicated by the primal masculine southern aroma lifting off of Rhett Butler’s wide shouldered southern frame, but it’s also true that the actress who played Scarlett, Vivien Leigh, was moved to throwing up after tasting Clark Gable’s garlic soaked tongue.  

Various biographies of Vivien Leigh have described the  actress fleeing the movie set, immediately calling up her husband, Laurence Olivier, in England and bitterly slagging off her legendary co-star. Oliver reminded Vivien that Scarlett O’Hara was the role of a lifetime and that she and Mr. Gable would either be immortalised by the success of the film or eternally damned together by its failure. 

The next morning, suitably buoyed by Olivier’s wise career advice, when the cameras began to roll Vivien whole-heartedly committed herself to selling the “greatest romance of all time”. The first step was quite straightforward. For the audience to believe  the sexual tension  between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler was real, she, herself, had to desire Clark Gable with every aspect of  her being.

It’s possible that Vivien drew upon her deep love for her husband and self-hypnotised herself into falling madly and deeply in love with Rhett Butler/Clark Gable  but only for the duration of the scene. With the money shot in the can Vivien was able to return to her apartment, chase away any remaining quibbles with some timely gin and tonic and then reassure her jealous husband that he was still her everything. Mission accomplished: The director and the studio had the shot they needed and, in time, when the movie was released to a breathless world, so would the audience.

How long does it take even the most gifted of performers to remove this kind of powerful emotional artifice from their nervous systems? A minute? An hour? Days? Hollywood’s long history of doomed burn bright, flame out hard, star-romances indicates that even the most experienced of performers can often fail to easily distinguish their everyday reality from their temporary fiction. When the director called “Cut!” and Vivien pulled away from Mr. Gable is it possible she felt a momentary pang of longing? When walking away from the set perhaps Vivien paused to look back over her mink draped shoulders and cast one last look at Mr. Gable’s wide, Atlas like shoulders. Perhaps the two actors exchanged a friendly glance as they discreetly acknowledged the shared pleasure of their fictional romance. Perhaps this sweet bond enabled them to build a genuine friendship. Who knows?

I believe that for the duration of their historic photo opportunity Obama and Hillary truly adored the other human being locked within their embracing arms.   (Democrats are softies after all. How could two wonderful people like “fictional Obama” and “fictional Hillary” not come to love each other after spending so much time in one another’s company?)  I have no doubt that if we interrupted Obama and Hillary during this memorable photo opportunity, hooked them both to a lie detector and asked them if they genuinely loved each other they would both answer “Yes” and both of them would easily pass the test.  This, after all,  is the nature of great actors and great politicians.

Only time will tell how long this heightened, reassuring post-convention warmth lingers between the two main leads of the Democratic party; for their fates, much like Scarlett/Vivien and Rhett/Mr. Gable, are irretrievably linked together well past their dying days.

NB. This blog follows popular myth in focusing on the Rhett/Scarlett relationship when in fact Scarlett's true love was Ashley Wilkes.