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The Good Fight: The Education of an American Reformer. - book reviews
National Review, August 23, 1993 by John R. Coyne, Jr.
Try this: "The rodent of fate that gnaws most tellingly is not the rodent of failure but that of never having tried . . ." A grotesque image, and typical of this plodding, morose third-person ("the reformer" is Mr. Hart's persona) rehash of old Bethany-Nazarene philosophy courses, civics lectures, and now-dated New Democrat goo-goo position papers, only occasionally envenomed by that high-pitched, self-righteous, unmistakable McGovernite rhetorical viciousness, as when Mr.
Hart slashes at Pat Buchanan for having "the blood of the original occupants of this land" on his hands. Less excusable still is "the reformer's" failure to acknowledge even a trace of personal responsibility for what he calls in passing "the incident" that destroyed his 1988 presidential candidacy and for which he blames, in turn, the press, other politicians, the Zeitgeist - anything except "the reformer" himself. Toward the end of the book, in his uniquely ponderous way, "the reformer" tells us that "The dinner party is closed to the heavy of mind, if not the heavy of heart." Heavy of mind, heavy of prose. For him the party is definitely over. What was it all about? Early on, he tells us that "reform is nothing but the American ideal: the pursuit of happiness." Indeed. From Pilgrim's Progress to Rake's Progress to the Pursuit of Happiness to Monkey Business. As for the rodent, he's lucky that Donna Rice or Mrs. Hart apparently didn't have big brothers-or for that matter, rat terriers.
COPYRIGHT 1993 National Review, Inc.
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