Play It Again, George

It’s the fourth anniversary of George W. Bush’s triumphal tailhook landing on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Mission accomplished. No, not the Iraq War. That still drags on and should be renamed George’s War. The mission accomplished was the fabrication of George’s legacy as the molded plastic heroic action figure “Top Gun.” I always wanted one of these manly dolls, though I don’t know where I’d display it once the novelty wore off.

"Reruns are not kind to this White House's scripted costume drama of May 1; the seams show," says political theater critic Frank Rich. "More and more viewers recognize that the banner reading "Mission Accomplished" in the "Top Gun" spectacle was idle set decoration, especially given that the number of American casualties in that mission has more than doubled since then. They know, too, that the president's uniform was from stock, and perhaps by now have heard how his speech was deliberately delayed almost three hours after his tailhook landing so that it would fall into that magical twilight hour that cinematographers find most romantic." (New York Times 091403)