If It’s Sunday Morning: Tim Russert, Ted Kennedy, Saddam Hussein, & The Bush White House
by It’s the end of another year. We’ve lost a number of notable and well-known folks, for good or not-so-good, in all walks of life in 2009. Sometimes, it’s those pieces I wrote back-when, at a time when history had not yet played out for some, that tend to foretell a bit of the future.
But then, that’s what happens when any of us get so embroiled in our own importance, when we believe our own press so deeply we can’t see the cliff we’re about to step off of and fly beyond with increasing speed—into a not-so-pretty story, a story that will without question follow us into our forever. No matter what else we may do in our lives, how many people we might benefit or what sort of good we might add to our legacy … that one blunder will certainly stand out brighter and bolder than any other moment in our life.
This is what happened to Ted Kennedy in the form of what became infamous as the “Chappaquiddick incident.” It is also a similar sort of thing behind the Bush White House requiring ethics training for all staff members at that time. Both sides—Democrats and Republicans—have long since moved into a cycle where they believe their good press, while attempting to downplay the negatives of their oh-so-human lives. Each in their individual circumstances has jumped on that “Me” bandwagon, loudly singing their own praises while throwing a heavy blanket atop their less-than-shining moments. Some have caused grief only to themselves, while some carried others along with them to suffer the consequences as much if not more than they ever did.
The public is like that big ol’ elephant. The public never forgets. So while our politicians might want us to only remember the good they have done, and the good they want us to think they have done, it is they who should never forget that we will also remember their darkest moments—even if we’d rather forget, also.
Hmmmm…. Most of the folks involved in this scenario are dead now, but maybe it would be neat to see Saddam and Kennedy and those naughty Bush folks slurping lollipops together, reading their Bibles or Korans or … or whatever … or even just a darn good comic book, with Tim Russert—bless his apparently ethical soul—mediating the lively discussion. Chances are the topic that Sunday would center around the high life they all had lived. Russert’s questions would be on target and at times, even a bit merciless.
It’d be worth a good film script, if nothing else.
Liked it
