Us, Anti-Intellectual? More So than America, in Any Case!

Obama reads quite a bit — he’s even written two books himself. A month ago, amidst the huge health care debate, he was said to be currently reading the biography of Teddy Roosevelt. During the presidential election, we caught a glimpse of international political best-seller “The Post-American World” in his hand. And the list, full of many novels and biographies, continues to grow longer and longer.

Do we even know what Jean Charest and Stephen Harper read, here? Not really. Doesn’t really interest us, we say. I’ll touch more on this below.

There’s really nothing terribly surprising about what Obama reads. But you’d be quite surprised to learn that even the less … intellectually inclined … presidents were also big readers. For example, George W. Bush, who we love to label a total imbecile, has read “Supreme Command,” a heavy story about leadership in military affairs, along with “I Am Charlotte Simmons,” by renowned writer Tom Wolfe, and even Albert Camus’ “L’étranger”!

And that’s not all: There’s an unwritten rule that right before summer vacation, the White House reveals the president’s complete summer reading list to the press.

In this oddly interesting article, an old advisor of George W. Bush, Tevi Troy, relates the importance books have held for American presidents. Some examples are legendary. As he demonstrates, this exercise is very informative, for many serious decisions have been made after having read one book or another. And many political platforms important to presidents find their roots, somewhere, in certain stories and authors. In short, books are a very influential political advisor. And Americans take an interest in that.

Not bad, huh? Especially for a nation that we’ve willingly labeled uncultured and anti-intellectual?

Us, anti-intellectual?!

One thing is certain: We’re certainly not in any position to be giving life lessons on this subject, because here, we could care less about the intellectual interests of our political leaders. Joseph Facal has recalled occasionally, and rightly so, that Quebec is one of the rare places in the Western world where “intellectual stuff,” especially in the public sphere, brings up contempt and suspicion. In other words, there still exists in Quebec a certain anti-intellectualism. One would believe that on this map, we haven’t quite yet gotten out of that pesky dark spot, and Duplessis’ condescending statement with regard to those “lofty idealists” resonates still.

Of course our leaders read. I myself made my small contribution, in 2008, in asking our political leaders at the National Assembly about their reading preferences. We learned there that Jean Charest was particularly moved by “April 1865: The Month That Saved America,” about the Civil War; that “The Little Prince” was Pauline Marois’ favorite book; that Mario Dumont was especially influenced by economist Milton Friedman’s novel. And that he has enormous respect for Winston Churchill.

Don’t you find that on top of educating us on the world vision of our leaders, and giving us guidelines on how they govern, knowing what they read makes them deeper, more credible and more inspiring?

Without a doubt, being a “politician-reader” gives a powerful example. When American presidents show themselves in public, with a book in their hand, and they promote — sometimes deliberately, like in Bill Clinton’s case — certain books, their message is quite clear: READING IS IMPORTANT!

So there you have it. Just like Tevi Troy in his article, I invite you, by way of your comments, to make reading suggestions to our politicians — those from Quebec, but also those from Ottawa. And hey, if you want, to our mayors as well. Why not?

I open the floor.