BARRY FOR PRESIDENT `MAN OF THE YEAR' DIRECTOR ON WHAT'S WRONG WITH POLITICS.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

Barry Levinson is no stranger to political comedies.

His 1997 movie, ``Wag the Dog,'' about a spin doctor who distracts the electorate from a presidential sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood producer to stage a fake war, got a lot of play on editorial pages when Bill Clinton's sex scandal hit a month after the film's release.

Levinson's new movie, ``Man of the Year,'' could have equal resonance in a time where more and more celebrities are seeking elected office. In the film, Robin Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a political comedian running for president -- and getting elected, after a software glitch infects the nation's new voting machines.

``The process will have worked,'' the software company president says, ``except people didn't get who they voted for.''

Ouch. Here, Levinson talks about these strange political times.

Q: Lewis Black had my favorite line in the film when he was looking at the presidential candidate during the debate and groused, ``This guy smiles so much, it's starting to upset me.'' To me, it summed up everything wrong with politics.

A: There's a point in time where you say, ``OK. I got that. Now I'm bored. You better give me something new.'' Right now, everyone knows that politicians will say whatever they have to say to get elected. They're researched to death and rehearsed up the wazoo until there's nothing left.

Q: They're not human anymore. I told Al Gore when I talked to him recently that if the man I saw in ``An Inconvenient Truth'' was the man who ran for president in 2000, he'd be in the White House right now.

A: Yeah, he wouldn't even talk about the environment then.

Q: He says these days he's freed from being a politician and can speak to the things that interest him.

A: Yeah, but what we have to say is you have to free yourself AND be a politician. That's the dilemma. If you have to free yourself by not being a politician, then where are we? But if you can be free as a politician, that's the future. Or it has to be.

Q: Celebrities have always run for office, but it seems to be happening more these days. Kinky Friedman's running for governor in Texas, and Al Franken is probably making a Senate run. What gives?

A: It's all a part of name-brand recognition. It's like making a sequel or remake. People know what it is. You don't have to explain it or define it. You're one step ahead in the game.

Q: Dobbs believes politics is best left to the politicians. Are you on board with that?

A: Not as it is right now. There's nothing wrong with the politicians. The problem is it costs too much money to have them run. Then they're beholden.

Q: And they have to spend most of their time raising more money to get re-elected ...

A: Too much time is spent about money, so you can't really get to what you need to get to and you're too beholden to too many people.

Q: Your solution?

A: You have to get the money out. It's not that complicated, but they really don't want to fix the problem. If you said, ``We're no longer going to allow on-air advertising for candidates and the networks must provide a certain amount of time for debates,'' the networks would go ballistic. They would lose too much money. And there's a lot of people involved in raising money. It's an industry.

Q: In other words, if you can't reform Oscar campaigning, what chance do you have in Washington?

A: (Laughs) Not much of one. But you have to try. The alternative is unimaginable.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- cover -- color) IN DOBBS WE TRUST

MR. WILLIAMS GOES TO WASHINGTON IN `MAN OF THE YEAR'

(2) ``Right now, everyone knows that politicians will say whatever they have to say to get elected. They're researched to death and rehearsed up the wazoo until there's nothing left,'' says Barry Levinson, whose new movie ponders the possibility of a political comedian running for the presidency -- and winning.