The Heroism of Bode Miller, Vassal of American Presumption

I must admit that I’d never heard of U.S. skier Bode Miller until Newsweek featured his ice-capaded face on its Jan. 23 cover. That was about the time when Hamas — the Palestinian Taliban — won its Super G (for goring) victory in the Palestinian elections; when Iraq ratified its Allah-is-great election results, giving Iranian-backed thugs in a pretend-parliament the satisfaction of establishing a theocracy under America’s nose; when President Bush was at his East German best in a daily defense of his lawless domestic spying program; when Samuel Alito — Robert Bork’s last laugh — was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a Senate almost as relevant as Baghdad’s parliament; and when Canada, that forgotten province to the north of American indifference, elected its most conservative prime minister in 12 years. How, amid all this, Bode Miller ends up on the cover of a supposedly serious national newsweekly explains, I think, why Bode Miller — occasional drunkard, eternal individualist, anti-team-player, corporate commodity, media punching bag and supreme Olympic loser Bode Miller — was the only true American hero of the Turin Winter Games. He lived up to the meaning of America in the world’s eyes these days: Presumptuous, self-absorbed, ignorant, loutish, incompetent. Read the rest...