National Dick

In some cases Return is simply impossible; this too is part of the American story.

Nixon, for instance. The man lies beyond recovery, as each pathetically abortive comeback further demonstrates. It's a matter of destiny. Nixon can't ever return to the bosom because he has lived through his own apotheosis, the moment when fate created him National Dick or the Lightkeeper. We will always need him up there in his dark tower with a permanent view of the shoals. We will always need him. One day soon he will give up the ghost but that won't really matter because of the advance of technology.

What are the shoals? What danger did we put the Tower there to mark?

Simply this: the possibility of No Return.