Our Gang

How long does political satire hold up before it becomes stale? Reading Philip Roth’s 1971 spoof on (pre-Watergate, pre-Roe v Wade) Richard Nixon is a chore today, but I’m sure it was downright hilarious during the height of the 60s anti-war protests. Compared to the loathsome political discourse of today, Nixon’s policies, besides Vietnam etc., seem relatively moderate and liberal....more

How long does political satire hold up before it becomes stale? Reading Philip Roth’s 1971 spoof on (pre-Watergate, pre-Roe v Wade) Richard Nixon is a chore today, but I’m sure it was downright hilarious during the height of the 60s anti-war protests. Compared to the loathsome political discourse of today, Nixon’s policies, besides Vietnam etc., seem relatively moderate and liberal. Roth’s “Trick E. Dixon” is worried about his ratings, the Boy Scouts protesting his “pro-fornication” policies and the sweat on his upper lip. In a bid for “Prenatal Power” Dixon proposes to extend the vote to embryos, bombs the pro-pornography country of Denmark and blames Jewish lawyers for bringing “free agency” to baseball. There are some excellent lines, and Dixon’s speech in Hell that ends the book deserves to be anthologized in a collection on satire. However, this is one Roth book that you can skip. Like Will Farrell’s George W. Bush impersonations, parodies of presidents work best in their present.   hide