Am I the only one who's noticing, but is George Bush gradually getting odder? The latest strange behavior is Bush's choice of reading material. Reports had Bush toting two biographies of Lincoln down to Crawford to read on vacation, but word got out (or was it leaked?) yesterday that Bush had chucked Abe in favor of Albert Camus' The Stranger. Astutue Bush watcher John Dickenson admits, "I'm not sure what to make of this." Indeed. Camus? Were all the copies of Ayn Rand checked out from the Crawford library? Is he saving that biography of James Buchanan for when he retires to Crawford for good?
As Dickenson points out, there are some similarities between Bush and Camus' hero Meursault: A feckless, none-too-bright man shoots an Arab for no good reason, completely miscalculates the effect of his senseless act, and goes to his death expecting to hear cheers. Plus, The Stranger is short, thus sparing the president from having to read about a civil war that dragged on and on. One wonders what Bush made of the novel. Tony Snow will only say that Bush found the book "interesting"--not exactly demonstrating the subtle reading skill of Paul de Man, but then again. Still, the American public has a right to know what the president has learned from his foray into existentialist literature. Dickenson wonders,
Does his experience in Iraq push him to read works replete with themes of angst, anxiety, and dread? Was the president trying to gain insight into the thinking of Europeans who are skeptical of his plan for democracy in the Middle East, founded as it is on the idea of a universal rational essence that existentialists reject? Did he just want to read something short for his truncated vacation? This may be the first time that national security demands an official version of literary criticism. We want a book report!
I have a feeling, though, that we're no more likely to get a book report than a recount.
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