Monday, June 04, 2007
Letting Frank Rich Speak For Me
In a friendly badinage concerning our differing opinions of the last two-termers this country has had guiding our ship of state from the troubled waters of moral turpitude through the straits of incompetence to the vast oceans of secrecy, privlege, and continual 9/11 justified lying, Gwynne at The Shallow End and I have spoken our piece and hopefully are still at peace, with each other. I'm hoping political opinion will not muddy the Adriatic clear waters of our friendship. Let's face it; each of us has minimal, make that infinitesimally miniscule, effect on how our country is run. The 2000 election is exhibit #1.
My displeasure for the current administration unfortunately doesn't make me instantly erudite about expressing the multitude of reasons I am cooking in my own qualunquismo stew. So, without further ado, let me simply extract an excerpt or two from Frank Rich's most recent Sunday NYT Op-Ed piece titled "Failed Presidents Ain't What They They Used To Be".
In attending a recent performance of "Frost/Nixon", Mr. Rich was bowled over by the performance of Tony Award nominated Frank Langella. He writes:
"...but Mr. Langella unearths humanity and pathos in the old scoundrel eking out his exile in San Clemente. For anyone who ever hated Nixon, this achievement is so shocking that it's hard to resist a thought experiment the moment you left the theater: will it someday be possible to feel a pang of sympathy for George W. Bush?
Perhaps not. It's hard to pity someone who, to me anyway, is too slight to hate. Unlike Nixon, President Bush is less an overreaching Machiavelli than an epic blunderer surrounded by Machiavellis. He lacks the crucial element of self-awareness that gave Nixon his tragic depth. Nixon came form nothing, loathed himself and was all too keenly aware when he was up to dirty tricks. Mr. Bush has a charmed biography, is full of himself, and is far too blinded by self-righteousness to even fleetingly recognize the havoc he's inflicted at home and abroad. Though historians may judge him a worse president than Nixon-some already have-at the personal level his is not a grand Shakespearean failure. It would be a waste of Frank Langella's talent to play George W. Bush (though not, necessarily, of Matthew McConaughey's (OUCH, that was not necessary)).
This is in part why persistent cries for impeachment have gone nowhere in the Democratic Party hierarchy. Arguably the most accurate gut check on what the country feels about Mr. Bush was a January Newsweek poll finding that a sizable American majority just wished that his "presidency was over" This flatlining administration inspires contempt and dismay more than the deep-seated long-term revulsion whipped up by Nixon; voters just can't wait for Mr. Bush to leave Washington so that someone, anyone, can turn the page and start rectifying the damage. Yet if he lacks Nixon's larger-than-life villany, he will nonetheless leave Americans feeling much the same way they did after Nixon fled: in a state of anger about the state of the nation."
Addendum June 5th. Seems a few pundits are going to see "Frost/Nixon" and mull over the current President Bush's future consideration of importance vis-a-vis, say Preseident Nixon. Here's George Packer's take from the most recent New Yorker. Do these folks gather in the lobby and share their soon-to-be-published thoughts or is there just a similar mindset inspired by the play?
My displeasure for the current administration unfortunately doesn't make me instantly erudite about expressing the multitude of reasons I am cooking in my own qualunquismo stew. So, without further ado, let me simply extract an excerpt or two from Frank Rich's most recent Sunday NYT Op-Ed piece titled "Failed Presidents Ain't What They They Used To Be".
In attending a recent performance of "Frost/Nixon", Mr. Rich was bowled over by the performance of Tony Award nominated Frank Langella. He writes:
"...but Mr. Langella unearths humanity and pathos in the old scoundrel eking out his exile in San Clemente. For anyone who ever hated Nixon, this achievement is so shocking that it's hard to resist a thought experiment the moment you left the theater: will it someday be possible to feel a pang of sympathy for George W. Bush?
Perhaps not. It's hard to pity someone who, to me anyway, is too slight to hate. Unlike Nixon, President Bush is less an overreaching Machiavelli than an epic blunderer surrounded by Machiavellis. He lacks the crucial element of self-awareness that gave Nixon his tragic depth. Nixon came form nothing, loathed himself and was all too keenly aware when he was up to dirty tricks. Mr. Bush has a charmed biography, is full of himself, and is far too blinded by self-righteousness to even fleetingly recognize the havoc he's inflicted at home and abroad. Though historians may judge him a worse president than Nixon-some already have-at the personal level his is not a grand Shakespearean failure. It would be a waste of Frank Langella's talent to play George W. Bush (though not, necessarily, of Matthew McConaughey's (OUCH, that was not necessary)).
This is in part why persistent cries for impeachment have gone nowhere in the Democratic Party hierarchy. Arguably the most accurate gut check on what the country feels about Mr. Bush was a January Newsweek poll finding that a sizable American majority just wished that his "presidency was over" This flatlining administration inspires contempt and dismay more than the deep-seated long-term revulsion whipped up by Nixon; voters just can't wait for Mr. Bush to leave Washington so that someone, anyone, can turn the page and start rectifying the damage. Yet if he lacks Nixon's larger-than-life villany, he will nonetheless leave Americans feeling much the same way they did after Nixon fled: in a state of anger about the state of the nation."
Addendum June 5th. Seems a few pundits are going to see "Frost/Nixon" and mull over the current President Bush's future consideration of importance vis-a-vis, say Preseident Nixon. Here's George Packer's take from the most recent New Yorker. Do these folks gather in the lobby and share their soon-to-be-published thoughts or is there just a similar mindset inspired by the play?
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