2009 Time 100: George Clooney by Bono

Here is an article written by Bono about George for the upcoming Time 2009 100 Most Influential.

George Clooney
By Bono
George Clooney is a dangerous man. He needs to be watched… to be monitored… He’s a new kind of American radical… a post-’60s, post-obvious, post-postmodern radical, not the left-leaning Hollywood bleeding-heart do-gooder that many think. Oh, no…

Clooney, 48, is a pragmatic idealist, and a patriot in a very different sense than the way that word is normally used. He believes that his country is a contagious idea that should be embraced by the world — but not by force, and not out of fear.

So what’s the radical bit? Well, it starts with his strategic sensibility, and his almost peculiar ability to sublimate his ego to win a point — something completely out of character and perhaps against the law for a performer. (I should know…) The pieties of the actor-slash-activist are absent in Clooney. Humor is his not-so-secret weapon. He’s very, very funny. Especially when he’s off-script.

It has been said that after meeting with the great British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, you left feeling he was the smartest person in the world, but after meeting with his rival Benjamin Disraeli, you left thinking you were the smartest person. That latter touch is the essence of George Clooney.

His commitment to ending the atrocities in Sudan is not a role, not a performance. It is real — and it is serious work. Some people think celebrities should stick to the script, stay feted and fetal in their air-conditioned trailers. Some people think it’s an appalling juxtaposition to see the rich and famous in a photo call with the vanquished and the vulnerable.

It is. George knows that. But he also knows that the cameras trained on you and the column inches dedicated to you could be covering something a little more important than, well, you. Like the slaughter of innocents in Darfur. Like the refugee camps full of starving Sudanese.

And he knows the details, the nuances of his and your sides of the argument. Hey, if you’re going to pay attention to George Clooney, he’s going to insist you pay attention to this stuff. Now there’s a radical idea.

Clooney’s smile is as brilliant as ever, but if you look closer, his jaw is clenched. What he brings to the discussion on Darfur is not just star power. It’s the power of conviction, and a growing impatience, and an undiminished sense that what’s still — still! — happening in Darfur is an affront to what we say we believe. Our response, as yet, is unworthy of us.

So take his picture, shake his hand, but whatever you do, don’t make this man mad — he just gets more organized.

Bono is the lead singer of U2 and a co-founder of ONE

He also interviewed George and that will air on Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN) Friday May 1st.

TIME 100 andAnderson Cooper 360°Special ‘The World’s Most Influential People’

CNN’sAnderson Cooper 360will air a one-hour special in conjunction with the release of the TIME 100 special issue, highlighting TIME’s selection of the most influential people in the world. The CNN program will include interviews of the TIME 100 honorees conducted by other inspiring leaders. These pairings are drawn from the TIME 100 issue, which invites people who are influential in their own right – in arts, science, politics, business – to pen the profiles. Anchored by Anderson Cooper, the special will air on May 1, at 11pm ET on CNN.

U2 singer and activist, Bono will sit down with TIME 100 honoree George Clooney to talk about fame and politics. This marks Clooney’s fourth time on the list. The special will also feature a conversation between moguls Ted Turner and T. Boone Pickens, both TIME 100 honorees. Finance expert and author, Suze Orman, who is featured for the second time on the list, will be interviewed by business journalist Suzy Welch. Select TIME 100 honorees will also be mentioned during the one-hour special, which will be simulcast on CNN International. The special will re-air Saturday, May 2, and Sunday, May 3, at 8pm and 11pm ET on CNN.

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