George Bush as Batman

Now that I have you curious with that headline, I would like you to read this article in its entirety and just think about it. First of all, this premise was not my idea. To give credit where credit is due, Andrew Klavan is the one who wrote about this last summer in an opinion column in the Wall Street Journal. The basic idea: the movie "The Dark Knight" is a metaphor for George W. Bush and the war on terrorism. So, let's deal with this idea that Batman is a metaphor for Bush.

In "Batman Begins," Bruce Wayne was the aimless rich kid looking for a purpose. He found it; he became the masked, anonymous defender of Gotham. "The Dark Knight," however, presents a much more complex picture. In this film, Batman is more anti-hero than hero. He is not the visible "hero" of Gotham; he is a man hated by many Gotham citizens and especially by the Gotham press. He is labeled a "vigilante," and the police department is out to get him. In his quest to stop the Joker, Batman constantly pushes the limits on what is proper and legal to track down the killer. From the envelope-pushing interrogation scene with the Joker to the device Batman designs to listen in on Gotham phone conversations, some of these methods are not so subtle allusions to real life.

Bush also found his purpose after 9/11. He was to use all the power of his office (and allegedly exceed it) to keep Americans safe. He did just that. His methods were controversial to say the least -- war overseas, barely legal intelligence programs, etc. -- but they worked. Like Batman, he became hated. He left office with one of the lowest approval ratings ever. However, as Klavan puts it, it is almost the destiny of a man like Bush (or Batman) to be hated.

The leader who stands up and draws a clear distinction between right and wrong is fated to have the mob turn on him or her eventually. That leader is especially hated when he or she becomes almost evil in order to defeat the very evil that is hell-bent on destroying our values. They hate what they term "moral simplicity." However, what is complex really, as Klavan states, is the fact that the criticizing, hand-wringing moralists on the sidelines feel it necessary to vilify this person. It gives them an "appearance of righteousness" at the expense of the person standing vigilant watch over their very values of tolerance, freedom of thought, pluralism, etc. Now, we move on to the Joker.

Of course, the Joker represents terrorism. In the film, the Joker represents an evil that is almost unimaginable. The Joker in the movie has no purpose except to watch others suffer and die. He represents terrorism more in the tactics he uses. Terrorism will never defeat us like a conventional enemy would. They will not occupy our capitol or force the surrender of our military. What they can do, however, is use fear and chaos to force us to bend our will and change our values. The Joker attempted this. However, it was the unrelenting Dark Knight and Commissioner Gordon that stopped him. More importantly, it was also the citizens of Gotham that ultimately defeated the Joker.

This is possibly the major lesson of "The Dark Knight." It was citizens who refused to turn on one another in the river scene at the end of the movie who defeated the Joker's spirit, but we must not forget it also took Batman to apprehend him. Over the next several decades, as we ponder the legacy of Bush, we may begin to appreciate how he kept us safe. Or maybe we won't. Maybe Bush will forever be the hero we never wanted, but he will always be the hero that we deserved.

This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.