Order of the Phoenix metaphor for today's politics

I took young Lex to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last Saturday. The movie was OK. Like everything Hollywood puts out these days, it seemed about 20 minutes too long, but Lex jr. liked it a lot.

The more I’ve thought about the plot though the more it seems a metaphor for current day politics in America. You have brave young people Harry, Don and Hermione (or in our case our troops) led by a serious a capable headmaster Dumbledore (or in our case our president) battling dark forces Lord Voldemort (or in our case Islamo-terror-fascists) that no one else can or even wants to see. The press, a paper called The Daily Prophet (or in our case our MSM), lines up against the headmaster and the brave young heroes battling evil and is successful in portraying them as the villains (or in our case our MSM obsessing on every car bomb and calling Bush a liar and ourown troops criminals).

A legislative body known as The Ministry of Magic (or in our case the current congress) led by the opportunistic and self serving idiot named Cornlius Fudge (or in our case Harry Reid) with the collective body’s head buried in the sand (or in our case up its butt) denies the existence of the evil Lord Voldemort and makes matters worse by interfering with those who would engage the serious threat to the world of wizardry (or in our case our very existence with 100s of pointless investigations and meaningless legislation that have at the same time not ended the war but have had the effect of demoralizing our own troops while emboldening the enemy.).

The Ministry goes so far as to install a woman in pink named Dolores Umbridge (or in our case Hillary Clinton) to take over as headmaster (or in our case president). Things predictably go south rather quickly as headmaster Umbridge enacts strict, pointless rules designed to punish achievers and move slacker into positions of power (or in case advance the nanny state through universal healthcare and other failed socialists policies while advancing lay abouts to respectability).

Of course evil doesn’t rest and after a student revolt (or in our case a taxpayer revolt) Voldemort again raises his ugly head (in our case unfortunately another ITF attack on the homeland). He is almost successful in destroying the forces of good. In the effort Voldemort is exposed to the masses before he escapes to fight another day. Once the forces of evil are exposed, Umbridge is sacked as headmaster (or in our case no second term for Hillary) and the good wizards are united for the future fight. At the end of the movie Harry is confident of victory because as he put it, “we have something to fight for.”

I suppose that’s true in our own case as well. The question is whether or not we can pull ourselves away from our 401Ks, the rising stock market, the latest scandal involving Lindsey Lohan, Barry Bonds, Michael Vick or Homer Simpson to give a crap.

The new Democrat talking point on the Iraq war is “how long”. The answer is obvious but I’ve not heard it articulated. The answer is “As long as it takes; as long as there is an American strategic interest in the Middle East; as long as al Qaeda wants us to kill them there as opposed to some other corner of the world.”