George W. Bush, Dewey Cox & "Smallville"
Bush's final hurrah had it all: the arrogance; the weird mixture of acknowledgment and pandering (was I the only one who noticed that the first three people the President praised happened to be of color?); the back-patting over victories that only benefited a small ideological minority; and the alternate universe-projection of positivity. If one wasn't paying attention for the last eight years, one would think that every bad thing that happened was completely out of his control, and every good thing (there would good things?) happened just as he planned/envisioned them.
I really don't want to re-post anything he said verbatim, so I'll just use this video of Dewey Cox as an analogy of how Bush probably saw his farewell address:
Like this song, Bush was rather reflective. Unlike the song, Bush was excruciatingly revisionary. If we were being honest, Bush's presidency was more like this Dewey Cox Song. Or this one.
One thing did stick out about the speech: his staunch defense of his good/evil view of the world. A world where Jack Bauer-type torture is justified and the bad guys are a cross between Cobra from G.I. Joe and the Romulans from Star Trek. In this world, in order for good to triumph over evil the good must sometimes do evil. Or do things that may make the average person consider them evil.
I think it's rather fitting that Bush's last major speech played while Smallville was returning from their winter hiatus. Normally, there's little to take from a show that's basically emasculated both Superman and his most infamous adversary (Lex Luther), but the show does have it's rare moments. Tonight was one of them.
In this episode (Legion) Clark Kent (he ain't Superman yet) is tracking down his best friend Chloe Sullivan, who was kidnapped by the show's version of Doomsday. Clark discovers that Chloe has been possessed by Brainiac, and via the evil techno-villain is trying to still all of Earth's information. When Brainiac is done, Doomsdays is supposed to destroy everything. Clark gets some help from three future heroes (the show's version of the Legion of Super-Heroes) who are adamant that the only way to stop Brainiac is to kill Chloe, and that she must be sacrificed for "the greater good." Clark refuses this option at every turn, and finally gets the three to use their abilities to stun Chloe's body long enough to extract Brainiac from her.
In the George W. Bush/Jack Bauer world, Chloe would be a martyr. A casualty of a war bigger than the life of one person. But to Clark Kent, every life has value and that takes precedence.
Now, unlike the Republicans and neocons who think Jack Bauer's philosophy should be gospel in the real world, I'm not advocating that we change our Constitution to reflect the ideals of Superman. I am saying that if one fictional character can be used to provide solutions to real world problems, why can't another? And more to the point: why does everything have to be black or white, up or down, good or evil?
We live in a world of variables, and it's becoming obvious that the people who wish that America would just burn see the world in terms of "either/or." Becoming like them isn't the way to defeat them; our greatest strength has been our ability to think outside the box without crossing the line.
And hopefully after eight years of Bush, Americans can rediscover this strength.
I really don't want to re-post anything he said verbatim, so I'll just use this video of Dewey Cox as an analogy of how Bush probably saw his farewell address:
Like this song, Bush was rather reflective. Unlike the song, Bush was excruciatingly revisionary. If we were being honest, Bush's presidency was more like this Dewey Cox Song. Or this one.
One thing did stick out about the speech: his staunch defense of his good/evil view of the world. A world where Jack Bauer-type torture is justified and the bad guys are a cross between Cobra from G.I. Joe and the Romulans from Star Trek. In this world, in order for good to triumph over evil the good must sometimes do evil. Or do things that may make the average person consider them evil.
I think it's rather fitting that Bush's last major speech played while Smallville was returning from their winter hiatus. Normally, there's little to take from a show that's basically emasculated both Superman and his most infamous adversary (Lex Luther), but the show does have it's rare moments. Tonight was one of them.
In this episode (Legion) Clark Kent (he ain't Superman yet) is tracking down his best friend Chloe Sullivan, who was kidnapped by the show's version of Doomsday. Clark discovers that Chloe has been possessed by Brainiac, and via the evil techno-villain is trying to still all of Earth's information. When Brainiac is done, Doomsdays is supposed to destroy everything. Clark gets some help from three future heroes (the show's version of the Legion of Super-Heroes) who are adamant that the only way to stop Brainiac is to kill Chloe, and that she must be sacrificed for "the greater good." Clark refuses this option at every turn, and finally gets the three to use their abilities to stun Chloe's body long enough to extract Brainiac from her.
In the George W. Bush/Jack Bauer world, Chloe would be a martyr. A casualty of a war bigger than the life of one person. But to Clark Kent, every life has value and that takes precedence.
Now, unlike the Republicans and neocons who think Jack Bauer's philosophy should be gospel in the real world, I'm not advocating that we change our Constitution to reflect the ideals of Superman. I am saying that if one fictional character can be used to provide solutions to real world problems, why can't another? And more to the point: why does everything have to be black or white, up or down, good or evil?
We live in a world of variables, and it's becoming obvious that the people who wish that America would just burn see the world in terms of "either/or." Becoming like them isn't the way to defeat them; our greatest strength has been our ability to think outside the box without crossing the line.
And hopefully after eight years of Bush, Americans can rediscover this strength.
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