Saturday, March 3, 2012

Characterized By Their Incompetence

Mallon uses his literary sensibility and mordant wit to give humanity to characters who in their confusions and delusions staggered across the national stage, utterly unqualified for the prominence they enjoyed until it devoured them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-ghosts-of-watergate/2012/02/23/gIQAr4VfYR_story.html
But having listened to hundreds of hours of Nixon’s tapes, Mallon considers them “totally inculpating”: He is sure that Nixon — a “misanthrope in a flesh-presser’s profession” — did not know in advance about the burglary. Mallon hears Nixon on tape constantly “trying to give the impression that he knows more than he did, not less.” Mallon’s “Watergate” is a tale of floundering, frightened people unsure of what had happened or what others were telling investigators.

These two sections have a complete ring of truth.  Qualified to perform in the roles now allocated to the President?  No one.  Perhaps that's why they all end up looking foolish to some degree or another.

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