The Book Obama Can’t Seem to Finish
The phase “Washington Read” refers to buying a political book, looking through the index for your name, and reading only the sections that refer to you. Then, you display the book in a prominent place along with the other political tomes that have not been cracked further than the index.
I defy you to find one person in Washington political/media circles who has actually read any of the most popular political books cover to cover. Ask any of us our opinion of these books, though, and we will debate the topic, assess the writing skills and cite it when discussing policy.
Now, apparently President Obama has taken to the Washington Read like a seasoned, inside-the-Beltway type.
Obama is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard. His spokesman said Monday, “Here’s what’s on the reading list . . .”"e Way Home” by George Pelecanos, Tom Friedman’s “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” Richard Price’s “Lush Life,” Kent Haruf’s “Plainsong”and “John Adams” by David McCullough.”
Well, that’s quite an impressive list of beach reads, Mr. President, but we have to wonder which of those will get a Washington Read and which will get a Real Read (i.e. read the whole thing)?
We don’t need to wonder because Obama said he was reading Friedman’s book on energy and the environment a YEAR ago. The Daily Beast uncovered a story from the campaign when Obama said that “Hot, Flat and Crowded” was the current read on his nightstand.
Well, either the president is a very slow reader or he’s just been using the book for the purpose of a Washington Read, demonstrating knowledge and interest on a topic without actually reading the book.
Friedman, to his credit, isn’t offended that the president seemed to initially give his book the Washington Read.
“Given the pressure of a campaign, I doubt that the president got to read anything cover to cover. And for most of his presidency, the great recession has really swamped debate and discussion about climate and energy. So, I was very pleased to hear that he is diving into it again,” Friedman emailed to The Daily Beast.
I love Tom Friedman. He is brilliant and so skilled at taking big policy issues and putting them in narrative form that the general public can understand.
But, that said, I have his huge bestseller, “The World Is Flat,” on my bookshelf for one reason — I’m in it.
I did the Washington Read of the book: Bought it, looked in the index for my name, didn’t see it, realized I was mentioned unnamed in an anecdote, read the part about me-me-ME, and then put it on a prominent place on my bookshelf to look intellectual.
(If you pull out your “The World Is Flat,” that goofy sounding girl on page 213 is me. To be honest, the only reason I know the page number is I pulled the book down to see where I had dog-eared it.)
When I had the book in hand, I took the Washington Read a step further by emailing Friedman to mock complain about making me sound like I’m 13 years old.
His tongue-in-cheek response was “Well, who do you want to play you in the movie?”
“Reese Witherspoon, she’s my IBF, Imaginary Best Friend,” I replied, self-defeating my own efforts to sound mature and serious.
So, Mr. President, when the movie version of “Hot, Flat and Crowded” comes out, you can just watch the movie and stop carrying that heavy book around, which you will never Really Read.
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