According to columnist Maureen Dowd, there are two famous men who have recently been caught reading French philosopher Albert Camus’ 1946 classic, “The Stranger.” One of these men is the fictional movie character Jean Girard, a gay French racecar driver who happens to be the villain in “Talladega Nights,” a NASCAR movie starring Will Ferrell. The other man is, ironically enough, George W. Bush. During a recent interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, President Bush revealed that he had read “The Stranger” during his summer vacation at his Crawford, Texas ranch. When later asked for comment, Press Secretary Tony Snow also admitted that he had discussed the origins of French existentialism with the president after he finished reading the book. Comedians were quick to pick up on the story and it’s not hard to see how they would spin it. “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” cracked that Bush was actually “catching up on his ninth grade reading list.”

As if that angle didn’t have enough comedic value, people also began focusing on the fact that George W. Bush was reading something from a very famous French philosopher. This is the man, after all, whose 2004 presidential campaign was filled with negative suggestions that John Kerry was a little too French to lead the country.

This strategy became so popular to the point that one of Bush’s campaign advisors began telling reporters that Kerry “looks French.” In fact, every part of Bush’s demeanor is constructed on a heavy disdain for the intellectual elite and, by extension, France. It’s not surprising, then, that a few people would be stunned to find Bush reading a book written by one of France’s greatest literary heroes.

But while the story may have provided a few laughs at the president’s expense, the more interesting question is how he began reading Camus in the first place. It is no coincidence that “The Stranger” is also widely regarded as an existentialist novel. In fact, that’s probably why Bush decided to read it. Camus was a firm believer in a basic assumption that life is a thoroughly indifferent and meaningless existence.

Given this condition, he argued that man cannot rely on God to create something of lasting value. “The Stranger” was written with this philosophy in mind as it told the story of an atheist named Meursault who awaits his execution for murdering an Arab. It is an altogether somber novel that would ordinarily seem like the last thing that President Bush would ever want to read.

Yet it seems that recent events in Iraq have finally forced the president to change his reading habits. Fairly or not, Bush was re-elected to be a war president and his legacy is now tied to an increasingly unpopular war. The insurgency in Iraq has grown to such a large size that The New York Times recently declared that it “has gotten worse by almost all measures,” compared to a year ago. U.S. forces have been unable to effectively combat this growing tide of unrest and have subsequently allowed local Shiite militias to take control of security in large areas of the country.

This has created a very fragmented country that threatens the very legitimacy of the new Iraqi government. The country is also dealing with brewing ethnic tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that are dangerously close to erupting into a civil war. All of this has made it extremely difficult for the Iraqi government to convince its citizens that it can actually protect them.

This is sobering news, to be sure, but perhaps the most relevant indicator of how the war is going is the way in which it is now debated at home. Its merits are no longer being argued based on what will happen if we win. Instead, they’re being argued based on what will happen if we lose.

None of this means that the war in Iraq is lost. But it does mean that this war needs fewer idealistic delusions a la “the insurgency is in its last throes” if it is ever going to reach a turning point. There are already signs that this new reality has settled in at the White House.

Last week, President Bush acknowledged recent struggles in Iraq by remarking, “When you see innocent civilians ripped apart by suicide bombs or families buried inside their homes, the world can seem engulfed in purposeless violence.” That’s the kind of statement that would make Albert Camus blush.

Nathan is a junior in the school of Engineering and a Forum Editor. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

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