February 24, 2009

The real deal



Mick has repeatedly dissed Frost/Nixon, the movie. I saw it last night. The whole production is a liberal artefact which makes it all the more delicious that Nixon emerges as hero, willy-nilly, and the creep is the mean-spirited, cowardly (in the film), liberal apparatchik, James Reston Junior. The sheer quality of Nixon, the world-class operator, shines through. It's hard not to compare the sophisticated, battle-hardened Nixon with the juvenile imposter Obama. Would that Nixon were President now! His sins were fighting fire with fire. He'd been subjected to liberal shenanigans and voter fraud for many years. Then as now the media protected the more telegenic, but more scandalous liberal candidates, while emoting with outrage at the relatively humdrum crimes of their cultural arch-enemies. The script nicely symbolizes the culture war with lace up shoes versus elasticated shoes. The movie does more to rehabilitate Nixon than anyone involved could imagine. We crave ruthless competence in the service of America, the city on the hill.