My Unhealthy Obsession with Richard Milhouse Nixon.

So I have slowly coming to terms with the fact that I am fascinated with Nixon. And there are several reasons for this. First because it can be said that the presidency (and possibly the country) as we know it today is based on actions of our 37th president. And second because this country elected an ugly, paranoid sociopath to the highest office in the land even in the age of television. I admit that the second fascinates me more...
If you want to look for the seeds of Bush administration look back to Nixon. Smear tactics, secrecy, paranoia, misleading the public, homophobia. All hallmarks of Nixon. Not to say that Nixon invented these things but he, more so than other presidents, built them into the actual bureaucracy of the executive. Sweeping executive powers. Manipulating public perception. And of course Rehnquist on the bench. Wow, its all there. I went to go see Nixon's last White House Counsel (a fancy phrase for the president's lawyer) speak a few months back and he spoke about what men who are absolutely assured of their own rightness (not to mention righteousness) will do when given an unfathomable degree of power. This is the lesson to be learned from Nixon and it is a lesson we have learned too little of too late.
Now, all of that being said, this is not what attracts me to Dick. I am not sure I can truly place my finger upon what it is. I am fascinated by him, Sir Thomas Moore, Ryan Adams, L. Wittgenstein, and William Faulkner. From that list I can discern no pattern unless we count chromosome composition so that is that. As I said up above though: we elected an ugly sociopath. He ran the country. The extent to which he spied and manipulated and investigated is only on par with J. Edgar Hooever himself. And we gave him power. But his ability to manipulate the gears, levers, and buttons of government were beyond reproach. He was also magnificently deft in his foreign policy. The ramifications and consequences of everything can be debated but Nixon was a political animal and a damn good one. This is why I find Nixon to be so much more of a terrifying figure than the current Chief Executive. The combination of political savvy, machismo, and insanity would put Bush II and Cheney to shame. It would be like putting Cheney in office if Cheney could win an election (and he couldn't, not for president). It should be noted that Nixon won his second term by carrying 49 states and 60% of the popular vote. But Nixon could win and he did. His career was rocky to begin with. House, senate, Eisenhower's VP. Kennedy stomped him in 1960. He was beat for governor of California in '62. But who comes back from that? Who? Nixon did. Fueled by whatever it was that flowed through that mans veins. He also got us off the godl standard and was a bitching piano plater. This guy fascinates me. Oh well...
I can't get enough of this guy. I fear for my mind.