As I blogged yesterday, we watched the movie Bobby this weekend.  It's a well-wrought drama about the day of presidential candidate and Senator Bobby Kennedy's assassination.  What makes the movie so powerful is that it's not just a rehearsal of the facts, not mere dramatization, but a careful weaving of the stories of individuals who were at the Ambassador Hotel that day.  About how their lives have been impacted by a presidential candidate who lifts them out of the everyday, who creates a vision of a country united by hope rather than divided by prejudices, violence and hatred.  And about how those lives are shattered when Bobby Kennedy is taken away by an assassin's bullet.

Hillary Clinton's reference to Bobby Kennedy's assassination was the focus of much media attention during the past week.  She has apologized for her inappropriate comments and Obama has graciously allowed that all politicians say things they regret while on the campaign trail.  (I'm sure he wishes he could take back the "bitter" comment as much as Hillary wishes she could take back the Kennedy and "hard-working white" comments.)

In typical fashion, the media pile-on continued--despite apologies proferred and accepted.  Which led to the horrific comments by Liz Trotta on Fox "News."  Discussing Hillary's gaffe, Trotta committed an even bigger offense and then laughed about it.  (See the clip below.)

Here's the quote (talking about Hillary):

"The vast right wing conspiracy blame has been undermined by her evasions, by her outright lies if I may say, by her pandering, by her race baiging, and now we have what...uh...some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama...uh...Obama...well, both if we could.  (laughs)"

Trotta goes on to say that Hillary is "tone deaf" on the issue.  Sort of the pot and the kettle, eh?

Trotta was on Fox News again this morning, still talking about Hillary Clinton--accepting her apology this time for her slip of the tongue.  In the next breath, however, she repeated a quote from political columnist Michael Goodwin about Hillary--"We have seen an x-ray of a very dark soul."

Trotta goes on to apologize but I would appreciate Trotta's mea culpa more if she didn't immediately try to excuse herself by saying (while again laughing), "It's a very colorful political season and many of us are making mistakes and saying things we wish we hadn't said."

Fine.  She wishes she hadn't said it.  But isn't what's good for the goose good for the gander?  Since Trotta feels so free to adopt Goodwin's characterization of Hillary's soul in this situation, can't we assume such judgement just as surely applies to Trotta?  We have, indeed, seen an x-ray of what appears to be a very dark character.  And it's not Hillary. 

One last comment on the odd confluence of the movie and the unfortunate comments of a right-wing pundit.  In the extra features of Bobby, there is a comment by a man who was present during the assassination.  He said that once it sank in that Bobby was gone, they each realized that they would have to pick up on his vision and march on as individual change agents in the world.

I propose that we need both.  We need a President who is a change agent.  And we need citizens who are change agents.  What we don't need are pundits who conflate our enemy with a galvanizing candidate and then joke about knocking them both off.

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