The ABC series “Last Resort” has its flaws, as all television dramas do. The show is remarkably mirroring – albeit in a very formulaic Hollywood way – the realities of our current political, military and foreign policy situations.
Perhaps even more astonishingly, the slant is more conservative than one would expect from the land of liberals … Hollywood, Calif.
Too bad the show just got handed its walking papers, even though ABC vows to air all 13 episodes already shot. And one never knows if enough fans rally to save the program it might live to see another television season.
In the world of “Last Resort” the current fictional, and yet unnamed, president has many political problems, is not popular with a large portion of the electorate and many senior military officials are either resigning over the president’s actions, or are being forced out due to their objections.
President Barack Obama – despite his large Electoral College victory – is extremely unpopular with almost half the nation. He has several political scandals on his plate that he and his media allies seek to downplay. Post-Benghazi, there is mounting pressure on him to come clean as to why there was no attempt by the military to rescue the people on the ground at the U.S. mission and CIA annex on September 11.
Several senior military officers, who may have objected to the lack of response or to the false narrative of the You Tube video instigating the Benghazi attacks, have either taken early retirement or been relieved after “personal indiscretions.”
On “Last Resort” a Navy SEAL mission to extract an asset in Pakistan, was changed mid-mission to a termination mission. After the SEAL team is recovered by the U.S. ballistic missile submarine USS Colorado – commanded by Captain Marcus Chapman (Andre Braugher of “Homicide: Life On The Streets” fame) – the Colorado receives orders to launch two nuclear missiles to destroy two Pakistani cities.
The orders come via the alternate Antarctic Communications network (only to be used if the primary network and the National Defense Authority in Washington have been eliminated), which makes Chapman question the orders and request verification through the proper network.
Chapman’s actions lead to a series of events, including another U.S. submarine attacking the Colorado, that same submarine completing the Colorado’s launch order, two Pakistani cities being consumed in nuclear fireballs and the Colorado – as well as her crew – going on the run and pursued for treason.
President Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize before he had done anything to earn it, has stepped up drone strikes and killed rather than capture and interrogate al-Qaeda leaders. This has allowed a new, less centralized al-Qaeda network to arise.
Obama has allowed the so-called “Arab Spring” to eliminate reliable US allies and destabilize the Middle East, and he sat back as the Muslim Brotherhood, resurgent al-Qaeda and affiliated groups flourished throughout that region. Instead of a more stable, U.S.-friendly region, we have a much more dangerous and inflamed region than we did four years ago.
The President may also have authorized the late Ambassador Christopher Stevens to broker the sale of Libyan heavy weapons to Syrian jihadists, via Turkey, paid for by the Saudis and Qatar. These weapons are probably already being used against Israel and could end up being utilized against U.S. interests. This could also explain why Stevens was in Benghazi without adequate security on September 11.
“Last Resort’s” story line finds the CIA may be operating without the president’s knowledge to prove that he nuked two Pakistani cities without provocation. As a CIA black-ops officer tells the executive officer of the Colorado, as “a false flag to validate the first shot of a man that wants to be an emperor, not a president.”
Captain Chapman and the crew of the Colorado, considered traitors, criminals and to be “dead but they just don’t know it yet” by the president and his administration, are symbols of resistance back home to many in the military and some in the public.
Off screen, the Tea Party and conservatives are portrayed by the legacy media, congressional Democrats and the administration as racists, far-right loons and unpatriotic. They’re tarred for fighting against the policies of what has become an imperial presidency, marked by “czars,” legislation by bureaucratic fiat and more executive orders in one term than in all other presidencies that preceded it. All of these themes are, of course, sprinkled in with the typical Hollywood pabulum of stale interpersonal relationships and stereotypical characters.
The underlying premise of an imperial and corrupt presidency is undeniable in “Last Resort” as well as surprising in today’s liberal media environment.