It is disturbing to read some of the reviews posted here by people who refer to themselves as "Bush-haters," because it is that climate of hatred and the fear that it breeds that is precisely the target of this well-made if slightly clunky mockumentary. Hatred is not a becoming emotion, no matter what the target. Hatred destroys thought.
I am not a supporter of George W. Bush or his administration. As I write this, a few days before the 2006 congressional elections, I am hoping for a Democratic takeover of Congress and some effective oversight and checks on the president's last two years in office. I am also hoping that the Democrats can put it together in 2008 and reoccupy the White House on Jan. 20, 2009. I am hoping even harder that the Democrats can come up with effective policies to right the wrongheadedness of the Bushies.
The Bush administration and some of its policies rightly inspire anger, as did 9/11. But the anger portrayed in "Death of a President" plays right into the hands of the Roving Republicans. The street crazies screaming at Bush are rapidly extrapolated by the media and by the Bush administration into all opponents of the president's policies, and the violence they allegedly spawn -- i.e., the assassination -- justifies virtually any measure to quell it. Americans are supposed to fear fascism, but in reality most of us have far more fear of anarchy and will go along with repression in the name of law and order. That's been demonstrated just recently with the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
But American democracy ain't dead yet, and political opposition must impose its own lawfulness and the effective, rational organization of its anger. (That applies to the Right as well as to the Left -- what conservative Republicans would want to be personified by Timothy McVeigh?). The anti-Bush viewers of this film -- and its reasonable to think that few pro-Bush people are going to bother to see it -- should consider whether they would want to be represented by screaming idiots in the streets or by people who patiently, doggedly, and persuasively work through the deliberate but orderly democratic process to unseat elected officials who have failed their constituents.
This is not a film about Bush, or about the death of Bush. It is a film about the death of democratic government and individual freedoms -- and about how both sides of a political debate are contributing to that death. No, American democracy ain't dead yet, but "Death of a President" shows vividly that it can happen here.
I am not a supporter of George W. Bush or his administration. As I write this, a few days before the 2006 congressional elections, I am hoping for a Democratic takeover of Congress and some effective oversight and checks on the president's last two years in office. I am also hoping that the Democrats can put it together in 2008 and reoccupy the White House on Jan. 20, 2009. I am hoping even harder that the Democrats can come up with effective policies to right the wrongheadedness of the Bushies.
The Bush administration and some of its policies rightly inspire anger, as did 9/11. But the anger portrayed in "Death of a President" plays right into the hands of the Roving Republicans. The street crazies screaming at Bush are rapidly extrapolated by the media and by the Bush administration into all opponents of the president's policies, and the violence they allegedly spawn -- i.e., the assassination -- justifies virtually any measure to quell it. Americans are supposed to fear fascism, but in reality most of us have far more fear of anarchy and will go along with repression in the name of law and order. That's been demonstrated just recently with the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
But American democracy ain't dead yet, and political opposition must impose its own lawfulness and the effective, rational organization of its anger. (That applies to the Right as well as to the Left -- what conservative Republicans would want to be personified by Timothy McVeigh?). The anti-Bush viewers of this film -- and its reasonable to think that few pro-Bush people are going to bother to see it -- should consider whether they would want to be represented by screaming idiots in the streets or by people who patiently, doggedly, and persuasively work through the deliberate but orderly democratic process to unseat elected officials who have failed their constituents.
This is not a film about Bush, or about the death of Bush. It is a film about the death of democratic government and individual freedoms -- and about how both sides of a political debate are contributing to that death. No, American democracy ain't dead yet, but "Death of a President" shows vividly that it can happen here.