White House Mum on Bush's Fascination With Charlotte Simmons

Posted on February 6, 2005

President Bush reportedly has a secret fascination with Tom Wolfe's latest book, I Am Charlotte Simmons (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Word has leaked out that Bush loves the book and has been recommending it to all his friends. But the book, which has plenty of beer-soaked parties and promiscuous activity, is not listed on the White House Official List of Books the President is Now Reading.

The books on the official White House list are: His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis (Knopf), Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Penguin), and the Bible.

The news has journalists scrambling for a juicy explanation. Could Bush be vicariously re-living his days as a partying Deke? Or could he be trying to determine exactly what Jenna and Barbara have been up to the past four years? White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has so far refused to answer journalists' repeated emails and phone calls on the subject, perhaps wary of James Dobson getting wind of it. And if Dobson thinks SpongeBob Squarepants is promoting alternate lifestyles to children, wait until he hears about Charlotte Simmons' first year at college.