The Jane Austen Hook Club: Obama As Mr. Darcy? [A Woman Of Mean Understanding]

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Maureen Dowd loves writing absurd, gimmicky, cutesy op-eds. But yesterday's "Mr. Darcy Comes Courting" is, even by Maureen Dowd's absurd, gimmicky, cutesy standards, ludicrous. Dowd's contention that Barack Obama "is a modern incarnation of the clever, haughty, reserved and fastidious Mr. Darcy" to America's Lizzie Bennett is absurd to both the casual follower of politics and the most casual reader of Austen — albeit rather unduly flattering to America. For it is also truth universally acknowledged, Miss Dowd, that the Austen canon is practically Biblical in its scope, as easily twisted to one argument as another. I get it: women like Jane Austen; let's use an Austen analogy! But even by these SparkNotes standards it's a ploy that breaks down pretty fast. But it just seems like Dowd... [read full story]