Perfectly Clear

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the Robert Redford narrated documentary All The President’s Men Revisited.  It was a victory lap about the 1976 movie, All The President’s Men, in which two reporters that looked like Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman took down the evil Nixon administration.

All The President’s Men was an unusual 70’s movie because it was not about sharks, demon possession, UFOs, The 50’s, or disco.  It didn’t have a good soundtrack either, which was very important for movies in the 70’s-just ask The Bee Gees.  The movie was about The Watergate Break-In, which was the mother of all scandals but did not have any nudity like some later scandals involving Bill Clinton.

Allow me to take off my Junior Humorist cap and put on my Amateur Historian hat. Watergate basically confirmed two things. For Democrats, it confirmed what they always thought about Richard Nixon (an amoral snake).  For Republicans, it confirmed what they always feared about Richard Nixon (an amoral snake).

If you think Republicans hate Obama, you need to go back in time and see how Democrats responded to Richard Nixon. They really, really hated Richard Nixon. Which is kind of odd, because Nixon was the basic Pragmatic Republican and wasn’t one of these radical conservative Republicans you hear about now.

There was an impressionist back then named David Frye that could do a spot on Nixon imitation. In one routine, he presented the typical Nixon news conference with the typical Nixon answer. Reporter: “What is the administration’s plan on integration?”  Nixon: “I’m glad you asked me that question. There are those that want instant integration, while others want segregation forever. I believe we need a middle course: Instant Forever."

People have forgotten what a great story Nixon could have been. In 1943, he was sitting on an island in the South Pacific playing cards. In 1953, he was the Vice President of The United States, serving under who was arguably one of the most popular men of his era, Dwight Eisenhower.  For the six President elections from 1952 to 1972, Nixon was on the ticket for five of those elections and won four of those elections. Three of those wins were by landslides.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Nixon and comparing him to President Obama.  Superficially, there’s not a lot in common. Nixon was an awkward communicator on television, while Obama communicates well. Nixon came from a dirt poor background and though Obama’s family was dysfunctional, they could afford to send him to private schools and  Ivy League institutions.

However, they do have one thing in common: the belief that people are stupid and will believe anything you say.

Benghazi has always illustrated this for me because it is very dumb. The idea that a movie, which nobody saw, could enrage Muslims (who granted are easily enraged) on a date that just happened to be the 11^th anniversary of 9/11 is as dumb as how Rosemary Woods accidentally erased the smoking gun tape.  When it became apparent even to the mainstream press that a movie had nothing to do with it, Future President Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked, “What difference does it make?”

Throw in the other two problems (The Department of Justice looking at Associated Press’ phone records for no real reason and The IRS targeting conservative groups for “special attention”) and Obama is starting to look very Nixonian. 

Just listen to some the answers Obama gives—it is the same lawyerly parsing that Nixon gave. Just watch his lieutenants on TV. There is a new talking point everyday that makes yesterday’s talking point inoperative. The reasons for the problems are self inflected: a combination of self-pity and paranoia that anybody that lived through the Nixon Administration would recognize.

I seriously doubt anything close to what happen to Nixon is going to happen to Obama. For one thing, like a good agent, the dense Joe Biden is there as impeachment insurance.  However, these three scandals will leave a mark on the legacy of Barack Obama and that is perfectly clear.