I Need the Dark Knight

I will be perfectly honest here. I first saw "The Dark Knight" in a sprawling multiplex last summer and I absolutely hated the film. I thought it was too violent, too gory, and too disturbing, especially in terms of the scenes of children being threatened with death. I left the movie theater last August feeling defiled, and I was very disgusted by what I saw. I didn't like "The Dark Knight", and I wanted a refund of my money. And if my name was Dr. Suess instead of Dr. Meiers, I would have sputtered out my cadence like in Green Eggs and Ham, "I didn't like it...not one little bit!"

I didn't like it, that is, until I saw the film the second time on DVD at home.

I don't know what it was that made me change my mind from "I hate 'The Dark Knight'" to "this is a brilliant film". Perhaps I officially made the transition from a "theater man" to a "DVD man" in terms of my preferred medium to watch and enjoy films. Perhaps I was distracted back in August in the theater by whatever petty ailments were afflicting me at the time.

But now I love "The Dark Knight", and each time I watch it I more and more see the parallels between the Batman in the film and war on terror that we fight against our bloodthirsty foes today.

Of course, the film has created controversy due to the parallels that some have seen between Batman (and his war against the terrorist Joker) and President George W. Bush (and his war against the Islamic terrorists).

Bush was the Dark Knight president. He was 100% focused on battling al-Qaeda and the bloodthirsty Islamic terrorists who want to kill us. Much like Batman, Bush became obsessed with battling the terrorists. Just like the Batman, he invented new weapons systems, launched intrusive surveillance and intelligence systems to keep us safe, launched wars of choice to take the fight to the bad guys, and hunted down his foes to the gates of hell and back. He also went overboard in terms of besmirching the image of the United States and alienating 70% of the American people. I do agree with Bush that you have to pick your poison: either fight the Islamic terrorist bastards overseas or you can fight them here in the streets of America. Our enemies will not go away and they aren't going to give up simply because we don't want to fight them. Much like Batman, Bush had his flaws. He was arrogant. He was self-righteous. He was a rich prick who came from a life of leisure and a family of money and power. He found it difficult to relate to the ordinary guy. But much like Batman, Bush had his strengths. He never wavered in taking the fight to the terrorists. He never backed down in Iraq. He pushed the envelope with his surveillance to keep us safe. We never had a repeat of 9/11 on Bush's watch. No Jokers came out to play in the malls, daycares, and restaurants of America after 9/11. Bush deprived the terrorists of their civil rights to operate freely in the U.S. - and thank God for that.

But the price Bush paid for his post 9/11 war on terror was huge. Bush destroyed his popularity over Iraq. Poll-driven presidents would have retreated once their poll ratings plunged to levels not seen since President Nixon and Watergate, but not Bush. Bush left office an unpopular and despised man, unable to appear in person at his own party's convention in 2008 and routinely booed throughout our land. He literally left Washington, D.C. in 2009 much like Batman exits "The Dark Knight": on the run, unpopular, and being chased by the dogs of society. However, I do view Obama as a Harvey Dent figure, the charismatic politician that we can believe in and who can pick up the mantle and continue the fight against al-Qaeda. The fact that Obama has decided to send 17,000 additional U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan is proof enough that he is willing to play the Harvey Dent role during his first term. Let's hope and pray that Obama Dent is successful as he picks up the mantle left by the Dark Knight president.

America has forgot 9/11. We have deluded ourselves that the threat has passed. We think we can go back to the way things were prior to 9/11. But we can't. Not now, not ever. Al-Qaeda won't go away simply because Americans choose not to fight the war on terror. Al-Qaeda won't go away because we won't use the term "war on terror" anymore, or close Guantanamo, or refuse to effectively spy on the terrorists messages overseas and in this country. Terrorism won't go away because we elected Barack Obama and want to have outreach to the Muslim world. The terrorists will hit us hard again. Another 9/11 is absolutely unstoppable now that our Batman President is gone. The only question I have is what the weak, Applebees America will think when we get hit hard in the next 9/11 attack. When they realize that the Joker is back and Batman retired a long time ago. Will they clamor for a new Batman, a new Churchill to guide us in a time of crisis? Or will they sue for peace, and capitulate to the terrorist demands? We live in bleak times, and we face nothing but bleak choices in our future. We had our fill of Batman in the Oval Office, and now we have driven him out of our life for the time being. But the Bat Signal will be back. Someday, in the future, we will clamor for it. Just not now.