Lots of readers offering this possible/probable explanation:
Jonah, this is an easy one to figure out, based on the producers intentions with their most recent flick, “The Day After Tomorrow” (boy, that changed the whole course of the presidential election, didn’t it?)
– “Independence Day” features a heroic American president as one of its lead characters’
– Bill Clinton was president when “Independence Day” was made. Could have been just coincidence the writers, producers and directors would make the leader on the free world into such a stud muffin at the same time the 1996 presidential election was going on, but;
– “The Day After Tomorrow” features a president who is an idiot, and is basically controlled by his malicious vice-president (who at least isallowed to live through to the end of the moive). This portrayal comes out during the 2004 election.
Based on that, I’d say the odds of them going ahead with “ID II” showing a heroic president in battle with aliens are pretty slim as long as Bush is in office. But if Kerry wins come November, expect to see the sequel in theaters by the summer of 2006 (the only caveat here is that, based on the box office performance of “TDAT”, if the producers are desperate enough for a hit in order to remain on the ‘A’ list, they might to a sequel even if Bush wins a second term. But then it wouldn’t surprise me if “ID II” added some plot twist like Bill Pullman pulling a Benidict Arnold routing and going over to the aliens’ side so he has to be defeated by Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum).