Letter: Wishing that art actually did mirror real life

Friday, Jan. 20, 2006 | 8:11 a.m.

Imagine Mackenzie Allen as president and Jack Bauer as director of this country's national security? This past week, with the season premiere of Fox's "24" and ABC's "Commander in Chief," we were riveted to our TV screens with superheroes and leaders of government who demonstrated the best in American values.

With Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, we have a relentless national security agent who uncovers the most complex plots. This Sunday and Monday nights he was forced to tackle a presidential assassination and terrorist attack at the airport in Ontario, Calif. Jack Bauer always gets the job done even if it means not following protocol.

Because we trust him, we even allow him to break the rules. Jack Bauer, heeding the desperate cries of FBI veteran Colleen Rowley, would have accessed the computer of the alleged 20th hijacker before Sept. 11 and prevented the worst tragedy in American history.

The two-night, four-part marathon made me ponder about how we failed to connect the dots leading to Sept. 11 and how our leadership failed to even place a priority on the threat of al-Qaida.

On Tuesday night Mackenzie Allen, a 45-year-old independent president of the United States (played by Geena Davis), brilliantly handled the threat of a potential nuclear war with North Korea. In managing the crisis she even solicited the assistance of her nemesis, the Republican speaker of the House, Nathan Templeton (played by Donald Sutherland).

The episode made me remember the Cuban missile crisis and how President John F. Kennedy so adeptly averted a world war. Imagine if Mackenzie Allen was the real president of the United States.

Stephen Magrill

Las Vegas