HOPING FOR A DIFFERENT ENDING: “RECOUNT” ON HBO

Recountlogo01 I can remember reading Doris Kearns Goodwin‘s wonderful No Ordinary Time, about the World War II years in the White House: FDR, Churchill, Eleanor – it’s a wonderful, inspiring story and forever changed my understanding of leadership.  I read the book on tape, mostly in my car. As I came to the book’s end, and the death of President Roosevelt, I drove around so that I could finish it.  All the while, I kept hoping — "maybe this time he won’t die."   Totally irrational but still – that was what I felt  And I didn’t feel it again until tonight, as I watched  Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson, Laura Dern and Denis Leary in HBO‘s Recount, the story of the 2000 presidential election battle in Florida.
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Reviews have reminded us that the story has been "altered" for dramatic reasons even though it’s presented as a docudrama.   There may be more drama and less docu than historians would wish, — but the basic reality is there – and from the perspective of 8 years and the traumas of the Bush Administration, very painful to watch.  In some ways it’s like watching a car accident about to happen – in slow motion — and not being able to do a thing to stop it.  Here’s a little bit of it:

 

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