Frost / Nixon
Seeing the movie dramatization of the interviews David Frost conducted with Richard Nixon stirred a lot of emotion in me.
About Bush / Cheney.
At the end, when Nixon confesses to wrong-doing, I experienced a sort of catharsis greater than merely the release of tension or a well-done denouement. Mixed into the reaction is my desire for Bush and Cheney to have a public moment like this. To confess they've done wrong, and that they're sorry. I'd like to see the awareness in their eyes that they've betrayed us.
I'm not hopeful I'll ever see that. And my reaction overshadows a really good movie, which merits emotion-stirring in its own right.
Oh, but wouldn't it be grand to see and hear Bush say how very wrong he was? To watch Cheney take admit to lying and be soul-sick about it? Not for the sake of punishment and humiliation, but for the sake of healing. Our nation's healing, and their healing.
While I remember the actual Frost / Nixon interviews, I wasn't old enough to understand all the ramifications. Richard remembers his reaction to the last session -- the one about Watergate -- and said it was at that moment that Nixon became a citizen again, started back on the road to rehabilitation. Because that's what confession does.
If Bush / Cheney maintain their triumphant "we're right and history will vindicate us" stance throughout their lives, they're only reaffirming their basic weakness of character and fearfulness. Weak men need to be right all the time. Fearful men can't exist without the iron mask of bravado. And if they never confess, they steal their own opportunity for redemption. More over, they rob this nation of a season of maturity and strengthening.
With Obama coming into office, there is a temptation to say "Thank God, it's all behind us now." But it's not. We won't be through this until there is some public accountability. I wonder if Frost is up for another set of marathon sessions with disgraced American leaders...?
posted by Woman In Love @ 7:21 PM
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