Is Political Satire Redundant?

You know how when something’s on your mind, you start seeing it everywhere? I find this to be especially the case in the libary, where lately the red, white and blue covers of political fiction have been jumping off the shelves at me. Did you know that Senator Barbara Boxer wrote a novel – a bipartisan love triangle cramed with insider knowledge, titled A Time To Run? Kristin Gore – Al’s Daughter – has also weighed in with a pair of witty, politically-savvy comedies featuring the adventures of health care advisor Samantha Joyce – Sammy’s Hill and Sammy’s House, a cross between Bridget Jones diary and CSPAN.

The M aisle is a particularly good spot for political satire, with Jamie Malanowski’s The Coup – in which a vice president attempts to unseat his president through sexual chicanery – sits right alongside Michele Mitchell’s The Latest Bombshell, first of a breezy series featuring saucy and sardonic political consultant Kate Booth (continued in Our Girl in Washington), and Political Animal, David Mizner’s sweet, sexy debut about disillusioned spin doctor Ben Bergin who rediscovers his compromised ideals in campaign staffer Calliope Berkowitz’s commitment to political change, and the way her unflagging enthusiasm for democratic values enlivens her ample curves and inspires her heaving bosom. Then there’s his next title – Hartsburg, USA – about an Ohio school board election that becomes a vicious fight between red and blue. Right across the aisle is Charles McCarry’s Lucky Bastard, which depicts the checkered political career of John F. Adams, who claims to be JFK’s secret love child and has the world class libido and towering sexual aspirations to prove it. In the next aisle over there’s Peter Lefcourt’s The Woody, concerning the misadventures of scandal-ridden Vermont Senator Woodrow ‘Woody’ Wilson, under investigatioin for sexual harrassment, with a dog kidnapped by an illegal immigrant in his employ, a cheating trophy wife, a drug-dealing son, and the worst indignity of all – impotence.

These saucy satires may make readers wax nostalgic for the prurient scandals of the 90’s, while looking forward to the next batch of novels inspired by the current cast of characters. Have the antics of this political season obviated the need for satire, or can the lighthearted skepticism of a good political comedy help put everything in the proper perspective? One thing’s for sure: we can all use a laugh.