Is Thackery Following the 2008 Race?

by David Safier

Last night, as I was reading William Makepeace Thackery’s Vanity Fair (Give me a break! I’m a retired English teacher, OK? And the last time I read it was as a high school junior. Good book, by the way), I came across a passage that’s as true of today’s political scene as it was of the businessmen and politicians Thackery was describing in the 19th century — people who are hopelessly mediocre, absolutely certain they’re right, and who hate anyone who disagrees with them:

He was proud of his hatred as of everything else. Always to be right, always to trample forward, and never to doubt, are not these the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world?

How can someone who’s never had the dubious pleasure of watching George Bush in action, and John McCain, and Sarah Palin, and at least half of the Republican legislators, describe them so perfectly?

(I’ll throw a few Democrats into the mix for good measure, but we’re the elitists, remember? In Republican-speak, that means we’re intelligent, value education and believe facts are important. So there are far fewer of us who fit Thackery’s description.)

Maybe Vanity Fair should be required reading for voters this year. Not all 800 pages. Just a short passage on page 412.