There's More Than One Kind of Cowboy

After the election, a 79-year old Bush supporter from Ohio said:

People say George Bush is a cowboy. Well, what's a cowboy but a guy in a white hat, getting things done for the downtrodden? People say he shoots quick. Well, listen, sometimes you have to do that, you have to be decisive.

Even though I am not a fan of westerns, one of my favorite movies is High Noon . If Bush is a cowboy, is he a Will Kane or a Frank Miller? Is he protecting or exploiting the town? The movie is recognized as an allegory for the times.

The film's story has often been interpreted as a morality play or parable, or as a metaphor for the threatened Hollywood blacklisted artists (one of whom was screenwriter Foreman) who faced political persecution from the HUAC during the McCarthy era due to actual or imagined connections to the Communist Party, and made life-altering decisions to stand their ground and defend moral principles according to their consciences.
It also has been interpreted as an allegory of the Cold War and US foreign policy during the Korean War. This taut, tightly-scripted, minimalist film tells the tale of a solitary, stoic, honor-bound marshal/hero, past his prime and already retired, who was left desolate and abandoned by the Hadleyville townspeople he had faithfully protected for many years (symbolically - during the World War II years). Due to the townspeople's cowardice (representing cooperative witnesses before the HUAC), physical inability, self-interest, expediency, and indecisiveness, he is refused help at every turn against a revenge-seeking killer and his gang. Fearful but duty-bound, he eventually vanquishes the enemy, thereby sparing the civilized (democratic) town the encroachment of barbaristic frontier justice brought by the deadly four-man group of outlaws (symbolic of the aggressive threat in the Korean War, or the HUAC itself). Embittered by film's end, he tosses his tin star into the dirt of the dishonorable frontier town.
[Director Howard Hawks and actor John Wayne both responded to the liberal preachiness of this 'un-American' film (and its cowardly townspeople) by creating a no-nonsense, right-wing rebuttal in Rio Bravo (1959).]

The above section precedes a synopsis of the film.

I contend that if Bush were a good cowboy, people's welfare would come before corporation largesse - he would save the ranch herd rather than open the gate for the rustlers. If Bush were a brave cowboy he wouldn't have scurried around hiding after 9-11 but would have rushed to take the lead (not to mention the deputy hiding in a bunker). If Bush were a kind cowboy the strain of sending young men to die would show on his face and infiltrate his conversation. If Bush cared about the town he would make it a better place for the next generation, not extract all he could for his gang.