{"id":703940,"date":"2025-12-16T21:25:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/rob-reiners-legacy-as-democratic-power-player-rivals-his-hollywood-stature\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T21:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:25:11","slug":"rob-reiners-legacy-as-democratic-power-player-rivals-his-hollywood-stature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/rob-reiners-legacy-as-democratic-power-player-rivals-his-hollywood-stature\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Reiner\u2019s Legacy As Democratic Power Player Rivals His Hollywood Stature"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tSoon after the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife and producing partner Michele was revealed on Dec. 14, the biggest names in liberal politics sought to connect the humanism of his creative footprint in the entertainment industry with his consequential policy advocacy over the past several decades. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBeneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people \u2014 and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action,\u201d Barack Obama explained. Gavin News<\/a>om noted that he\u2019d been \u201ca passionate advocate for children and for civil rights,\u201d Kamala Harris said he \u201ccared deeply about the future of our nation,\u201d and Bill and Hillary Clinton together extolled Reiner\u2019s \u201cactive citizenship in defense of inclusive democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReiner left a significant legacy as an iconic actor, director and producer. But it may be rivaled by his efforts as a progressive activist and pillar of what in recent years has become an epithet \u2014 Hollywood liberalism \u2014 that leaves the most lasting mark.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe couple\u2019s involvement in public policy began with a cold call to Tipper Gore in 1994. They\u2019d become focused on finding ways to improve early childhood development. Soon Reiner had a meeting with President Clinton and, in time, a White House conference.<\/p>\n

\n\tReiner became the key force behind Proposition 10, a 1998 California ballot measure which levied a tax on tobacco products to pay for a variety of early childhood programs across the state, many of which are still in existence today. \u201cNobody had ever proposed something of this magnitude before,\u201d says Zev Yaroslavsky, a former Los Angeles County supervisor who now runs a policy institute at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. \u201cThat was his baby, and it\u2019s made a huge difference that\u2019s helped hundreds of thousands of kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReiner was also a key player in the fight for same-sex marriage. \u201cRob and Michele thought deeply about how do you improve society in a durable and sustainable way,\u201d recalls Kris Perry, one of the lead plaintiffs in the federal case that overturned California\u2019s Proposition 8.<\/p>\n

\n\tKen Mehlman, the former George W. Bush and Republican National Committee operative, served on the board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights with Reiner: \u201cRob was smart and creative \u2014 highly effective at identifying ways to overturn Prop 8. He brought to every discussion an eye and mind of how to help us tell our story.\u201d One Reiner idea put to action: court-transcript<\/a> readings held in community theaters in states where same-sex marriage was on the ballot.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tEd Bagely Jr. and Rob Reiner pose with Former Democrat Vice President Al Gore (C) at the afterparty for the premiere of Paramount Classic\u2019s \u2018An Inconvenient Truth\u2019 in 2006.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Winter\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tLara Bergthold, a veteran consultant who worked closely with Reiner when she ran Norman Lear\u2019s political operation, observes, \u201che was interested in strategy and messaging. He was driven by passion and backed by research \u2014 an unstoppable combination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReiner\u2019s advocacy also focused on the environment, from climate change to land conservation. He was a key figure in the successful 1990s campaign to preserve 3,000 acres of pristine Southern California wildlands, then known as Ahmanson Ranch, from commercial development in the Santa Monica Mountains.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAhmanson Ranch was one of the best examples of what Rob could do,\u201d explains Joel Reynolds, senior institutional strategist at the National Resources Defense Council. \u201cHe motivated people, elevated the profile of the issue and had the capacity to generate and maintain opposition \u2014\u00a0through his tremendous network, with friends in high places \u2014 at a level that even a company as big as [landowner] Washington Mutual decided it was too big a risk to move forward. Rob made the difference in stopping this mega development.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReiner credited Michele for his energetic activism. \u201cThe reason I\u2019ve done as many things in the political sphere is largely because of her,\u201d he told Stephen Colbert in 2016. \u201cShe is my Bunsen burner that lights the flame in my ass.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReiner considered a gubernatorial run against Schwarzenegger in 2006, then opted against it, citing the toll it would take on his children, who were still school-aged. Nine years later, Reiner released Being Charlie<\/em>, co-written by his son Nick, who has been arrested in his parents\u2019 killing. It was about the struggles of a young addict as his father, a Hollywood star, ran for California governor.<\/p>\n

\n\tDonald Trump\u2019s ascendance to the White House \u2014 first in 2016 and then again last year \u2014 challenged Hollywood\u2019s liberal political establishment. In 2017, Reiner and his wife helped launch the Committee to Investigate Russia, focused on compiling information about apparent Russian interference in American elections, which the president has often referred to as a hoax. Reiner later revealed he was developing a limited series<\/a> about the relationship between Trump and Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn social media<\/a> following Reiner\u2019s death, the President said his death was a result of the \u201canger he caused others\u201d through \u201cTRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.\u201d That post has prompted considerable criticism within the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince Trump\u2019s reelection, colleagues like Perry had noticed a retrenchment in the Reiners\u2019 political activity. \u201cI sensed a shift in their priorities,\u201d she says. But the long arc of the couple\u2019s policy achievements was already secured. Bruce Cohen \u2014 the Oscar-winning producer and president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which Reiner co-founded \u2014 explains that \u201cRob brought his full self to his activism. He cared about giving people dignity. That\u2019s what this work was about for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tThis story appeared in the Dec. 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.\u00a0Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soon after the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife and producing partner Michele was revealed on Dec. 14, the biggest names in liberal politics sought to connect the humanism of his creative footprint in the entertainment industry with his consequential policy advocacy over the past several decades. \u201cBeneath all of the stories he produced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":703941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-80516671.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[74120],"class_list":["post-703940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-rob-reiner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}