Once more into the breach
With our country once again in turmoil, Kiefer Sutherland has come to the rescue.
Fifteen years ago on September 11, 2001 Americans reeled from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
It was a scary time. We didn’t know who was attacking us, or why, and if there was going to be a second attack or maybe a third. Americans were afraid, vulnerable and looking for leadership. I remember a number of congressmen rallied at the Capitol to show America courage in the face of such a threat. They didn’t look brave standing clustered on the Capitol steps. They looked shaken. When they were finished reading their statement, Rep. Dick Armey started singing “God Bless America” and one by one, they eventually all joined in. (How could they not?). Oddly enough, the song seemed to give them courage. Their voices grew stronger with every line. They, and we, needed something to hold on to.
While American leaders developed substantive responses to the attacks, the American public desperately needed to feel strong again. We wanted to fight back. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that someone stepped into the vacuum.
That someone was Jack Bauer.
In the suspense-filled drama “24” Kiefer Sutherland’s character Jack Bauer took it to terrorist after terrorist against unimaginable odds. He was so tough he could not be killed. He broke just about every law known to man and still we loved him. One time he shot a murderer (who was in federal custody), used a chain saw to cut off the man’s head, and put it in a gym bag as proof to the terrorists that he had “gone rogue.” Nobody blinked. Jack Bauer took out the bad guys. We wanted him on that wall. We needed him on that wall.
His badass-ness became legendary:
“Jack Bauer doesn’t have nightmares. Nightmares have Jack Bauers.”
“Killing him doesn’t make Jack Bauer dead. It only makes him angry.”
“My parents told my little brother and I that Jack Bauer was ‘just a television character.’ Now we are orphans.”
Fifteen years later, we are a more jaded nation. We have become accustomed to countless horrors both foreign and domestic. We have survived the bombing of the Boston Marathon and children massacred in our elementary schools. We have waged war in nation after nation and witnessed countries dissolve into chaos through civil war. Terrorism of a new kind (or perhaps from another age) shatters our sense of decency and humanity. We know now there are no easy answers and have learned to distrust the institutions we have charged with finding them.
Our politics are similarly jaded. We need leaders, but question what kind of leaders we need. We distrust the elite politicians who have brought us here, but also shun the demagogue who promises salvation at the cost of our values.
Our focus has turned starkly inward. Who are we as a country? What values do we espouse? The red and blue states that used to be a convenient handle for political leanings are now thickening lines in the sand. Political rallies have turned violent, sometimes even stoked by our leaders themselves. There is talk of revolution and secession and the use of our “second amendment rights.”
“With our country’s democracy at stake, Kiefer Sutherland has again come to our rescue.”
Into this scary political climate, with our country’s democracy at stake, Kiefer Sutherland has again come to our rescue. In his new show “Designated Survivor” his character, Tom Kirkman, looks to bring sanity to our government, human decency to our politics and an everyman to the presidency.
The show opens with an act of terrorism. Given our newly acquired thick skin, the scale is enormous. The US Capitol Building has been bombed during the State of the Union, killing everyone in attendance, including the president’s cabinet, the Supreme Court and all sitting members of congress. As in real life, one member of the cabinet is always recused from the gathering for just such a potential assault. In the wake of the bombing, Tom Kirkland, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, inherits the job of President on the worst day in the country’s (albeit imagined) history.
This time, however, it is not a badass who steps into the breach. It’s a do-good public servant. An everyman with no aspirations of power, Tom Kirkman was not born to greatness. Greatness is clearly thrust upon him. But thankfully, Kirkman brings common sense to high places. He respects the constitution. He believes in right and wrong. He doesn’t shoot first and ask questions later. He seeks to lead with knowledge, understanding and values. In short, Tom Kirkman is us, trying to find our way through the challenges before our troubled nation.
And just like our politics today, the system seems destined to make him fail. Party and power trumps dedication to country. State governors challenge his rights as president. Hawkish generals, who don’t think he has the guts for the job, deride his every decision. The media questions whether or not his ascension to the highest office is even legitimate.
Kiefer Sutherland’s character doesn’t have all the answers. He flounders more than he gets things right. But his respect for the office and his unerring sense of decency always seems to carry him through.
In the “art imitates life” category, comparing “24” to “Designated Survivor” provides us with an interesting insight into the changed mindset of the American public. We’re done with the blood thirst that governed us after 911. We’re done with those who would trample our values. We’re done with the politicians and the political forces that undermine our democracy and the institutions that serve it. We want honesty and character in high places. We want real leadership and real solutions and someone who can unite us. And with Tom Kirkman we get it…at least in prime time.
Thanks Kiefer. Glad to have you back.
