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While campaigning for Al Gore in the 2000 election, actress Whoopi Goldberg explained to a large L.A. crowd why the public ought to listen to celebrities on the subject of politics.

Complete with hand gestures, Goldberg told the audience “you guys are down there, and we celebrities are up here – so we can see what the government is really up to. Then we can tell you what is really going on.”

Goldberg’s blockheaded assertion captures the arrogance typical of celebrity political thought. Despite having little in common with the common man, Hollywood has nonetheless anointed itself the fourth branch of government, protectorate of the public interest, enforcer of all causes just and liberal.

And now, with the war drum growing louder by the day, a relatively dormant Hollywood has awoken from its post-Sept. 11, 2001 slumber and unleashed a political onslaught against the Bush administration in an effort to reshape what it deems an “imperialist” foreign policy.

Barbara Streisand, diva and outspoken liberal activist, fired a blow in a memo sent to Congressman Dick Gephardt early last week. Armed with political insight that apparently warrants direct congressional attention, Streisand accused Bush of being a lapdog for “such special interests as the oil industry, chemical companies, the logging industry, defense contractors, mining industry, and the automobile industry, just to name a few.” According to the Web site www.chronwatch.com, Streisand went on to urge Gephardt to focus on domestic policy because “Sadam (sic) Hussein didn’t bomb the World Trade Center.”

In crafting these policy recommendations, Streisand made some serious gaffes. The memo misspelled not only Saddam (Sadam), but also Gephardt (Gebhart) and al-Qaeda (Al Queda). Needless to say, these Quayle-esque errors did not reflect well on Babs as a foreign relations advisor.

And yet Streisand has continued to fire political potshots from her comfortable abode in Malibu. This is the same woman who, during the heart of the Cold War, called for the “immediate dismemberment of the global nuclear machine” and accused the United States (and not the Soviets) of “dismantling the social agenda.” Congressmen need her political advice like she needs their singing tips.

But Babs is far from the only celebrity publicly railing against the Bush administration. Alec Baldwin, speaking at a recent democratic fundraiser, argued that Bush’s Iraqi policy is driven purely by an inability to find Osama bin Laden. Coming from a professed Clinton devotee, Baldwin’s wag-the-dog accusations are confounding.

According to www.msnbc.com, Left-wing actor Tim Robbins has leveled similar charges. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Robbins proclaimed “I’m against this whole ‘Let’s bomb a new country because things aren’t going our way’ … I resent putting American soldiers in harm’s way to do everything to change the subject so that Republicans can keep control of the House.”

Also from the same Web site, actress Jessica Lange, speaking to foreign press, remarked “I hate Bush – not only for his international policy but for his nation policy. He makes me ashamed to be an American.”

Actor and peacenik Ed Asner, appearing on the “O’Reilly Factor,” charged Bush with “desecrating” America. He also attached his name to a petition denouncing “war and oppression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration,” according to www.foxnews.com/oreilly.

The list of Bush-bashings goes on and on.

But instead of undermining Bush’s push for Iraqi disarmament, Hollywood’s knee-jerk extremism has only served to reinforce the President’s measured and sensible policy. Hollywood is simply out of touch with mainstream America – its rantings alienate even moderate democrats.

So every time a pampered celebrity launches an ill-supported rant against the Bush administration, the public rolls its eyes and gives thanks that Bush – and not Streisand – is in the White House.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Eisner is Viewpoint’s Thursday columnist.