WSJ Editorial: Batman Is President Bush

Via TNR, the Wall Street Journal publishes an editorial by Andrew Klavan declaring "The Dark Knight" really depicts our fearless leader:

A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .

Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W."

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society -- in which people sometimes make the wrong choices -- and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

No word yet on what Patrick Leahy thinks.

Comments

[Sumocat]

Great comparison. Only one problem: the Dark Knight works outside the law to encourage others to rise up against fear and looks forward to stepping down when Harvey Dent, an elected official sworn to enforce the law, steps forward to take his place. So while being compared to Batman might seem like praise, in the context of the movie, it only illustrates how W has failed to fill the role he should be playing.

[FogBelter]

Comedy!!! Just what I expect from the Wall Street Journal!

[haridoa]

first of all Batman is smart; Bush isn't. And would Batman avoid the draft?

[YankeeCanuck]

Are you sure this is not from The Onion?

[Titonwan]

It's from a vegetable alright...

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

The only thing W has in common with any superhro is the Robin-esque codpiece he wore for his Mission Accomplished Photo-shoot.

[YunekFlava]

How Rich!! Bush as Batman. LOL. I think he has more in common with the Joker. This cat has pulled more tricks on thie masses of this country and particularily when we were most vunerable (After 9-11). For years actually the press ltet him run DC as Gotham City , until the wispers of the masses (bloggers) beame loud enough to give them (the press) balls to speak out loud He fooled some of the people for a long time, because of emotionalism and his absolute fear-mongering. Now he and his gang and his followers (you know who you are) plan to put in a clone. We won't stand for it this time, because the real Batman and Robin is on the scene. Gotham is a dark and hopeless looking place, but the new Batman will bring some sun and some hope, Not only can i hope he does, but we need to make sure he does. May the Force be with you( LO). Wrong Villian, right sentiment.

[Marlyn]

WSJ = funny papers

[illinoisan]

Alfred E. Newman yes; Batman no. Adam West would make a better POTUS.

[DRaymond]

Ok, I'll buy it, Bush is Batman.

But do I want a secretive, self-obsessed, meglomanic sociopath running the country? No.

[nastyvirus]

We've already had at least two (Nixon, Bush Jr). More to come.

[kroses98]

Bush has been flying around, doing his thing, for the past 7+ years, so this is not new to us!

[karpar]

While watching the movie (which I liked quite a lot), I was struck by the fairly obvious parallel between Batman's surveillance and the Bush administration's wiretapping initiatives. What's telling, though, is that Batman insisted on fairly oppositional oversight (in the form of Lucius Fox) and took steps to ensure that any overreaching was temporary, while the Bush administration has worked diligently to remove all oversight and ensure that executive powers are extended in perpetuity. Perhaps more tellingly, Batman/Bruce Wayne is presented as intellectually searching and deeply troubled by the steps he feels forced to take, while Bush seems entirely incapable of that kind of introspection.

In addition to being a fictional character whose fundamental goodness and rectitude can be taken as guaranteed, Batman also has the decency to posit that, while terrible circumstances may argue for bending, relaxing, and even breaking established rules of conduct, those breaches exact a toll on those doing the breaching, as well as society as a whole and must always be the last option.

[RobertAndropolis]

I like your analysis. Haven't seen "The Dark Knight" yet, but your synopsis reminds me of "Dirty Harry." Harry Calahan: bending rules, torturing suspects (great scene in Kezar Stadium between Callahan and the wounded sniper "Scorpio"). The difference is Bush likes this torture sh*t and lack of due process, and Calahan doesn't. There is nothing Calahan likes in his job, even answering his wounded partner's wife's question of why he stays on the force with, "I don't know, I really don't." Bush questions nothing, and doesn't know that he doesn't know anything.

The WSJ writer fails in his Batman/Bush comparison because a protagonist must have a character arch from one way of thinking and behaving to another, enlightened way of thinking and behaving (with the exception of late '60s/early '70s cinema antiheroes). Bush hasn't altered his way of thinking or behaving since his Yale frat days, only now there's no kegger.

[swift goat pet for truth]

It fails because Batman does not hire mercenaries at $100k / year to fight his fights for him.

[Rubyfoo]

His only bats are in his belfrey.

[brooklyncitizen]

Well unlike Batman, Bush is not fictional and the harm he's inflicted is very real.

[RealityBaseCamp]

brooklyncitizen said:
"Well unlike Batman, Bush is not fictional and the harm he's inflicted is very real."

Batman, as I keep saying about Dirty Harry and Jack Bauer, has the luxury of always being right. These guys? Not so much.

[ann1]

I'm glad they waited until after the opening weekend to release this ridiculous info, I believe it would have affected ticket sales a great deal!

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

M*rdock opens up a whole new dimension of ridiculousness.

In Batman Begins, El Shrubbo was the (nominal) guy in charge of distributing the psychotropics to place citizens in a state of fear, not the guy trying to save the city.

NeoConLand really is Bizzarro World. Black is white, up is down, good is bad, and whatever.

[Soulsurfer]

Eeeeeeaaaaassssyyyyyyy, stomach, don't turn over!