Reece's Reviews: A Planet for the President, by Alistair Beaton

Genre: Fiction: Satire
Publishing Info: Orion Publishing (September 1, 2004)
Film Adaptaton: None as of the date of this review.

Overview:
A political satire concerning the fictional U.S. President, Fletcher J. Fletcher and his administration’s decision to wipe out all non-Americans in the world in order to stave off an impending ecological disaster and preserve the American way of life.

Points of Interest:
First of all, let me say this book is hilarious. I mean laugh out loud, slap your knee, snot flying out of your nose funny. It is a scathing political satire mixed with a heavy dose of black humor. The idea is that the American President, Fletcher J. Fletcher is warned of a coming ecological disaster by a political advisor. He is told that if every human being on Earth lived a lifestyle similar to the average American, we would need over 15 Earths to provide for the current population. The President is also told that it is only a matter of time before the Earth’s reserves are run through and chaos and famine ensues. He is warned that if he does nothing, he will be remembered as the President that ruined the world, which would not look good in history books.

In order to circumvent the disaster President Fletcher is advised to find a way to lower the environmental strain American’s place on the environment. President Fletcher dismisses the idea as preposterous. Telling Americans to consume less would kill his approval rating.
His administration composed of imbeciles, incompetents, and self-serving opportunists propose the idea of killing off the rest of the world, allowing for more elbow room for Americans. The monstrous idea is rationalized as being the only viable solution to the coming crisis while maintaining the American way of life. It is also suggested that the President and his cabinet could use the incident to win a third term in office. The book then rolls out the details of how this genocide will be accomplished, and somehow makes the entire thing hilarious as good satire does.
That is why satire is so effective. It makes terrible topics palatable by coating them in humor. This book does just that as it brings the reader to the books horrifying but outrageously funny conclusion.

Fletcher J. Fletcher is a thinly veiled George W. Bush. His fictional cabinet represents neocon ideals in their aggressive policies, imperialism, need for fear to unify the country and its America first agenda, which in the case of the book is taken to an extreme. A few gems in this comparison are incidents such as President Fletcher taking time to “be with his God” when he actually drinks bourbon and then prays for a third term in office. Another occurs when the President asks his born again Christian Secretary of Defense if they should invade a small, possibly terrorist state and the Secretary responds, WWJD (what would Jesus do)? The President asks what Jesus would do and the Secretary replies, “Jesus would go in hard!” which is a criticism of the obvious hypocrisy of Bush’s administration that appeals to the religious right, claiming to be inspired by and modeled after Jesus’ life and yet initiates pre-emptive War and violence.

The administration decides to infect the world with a modified super bird flu, which will wipe out 100% of the people infected with it and will spread to every person around the world who is not protected with an inoculation. This will be administered on the pretense of an eminent terrorist attack which in actuality does not exist. The inoculation contract, which is obviously huge and highly lucrative, is promised to whomever can get it done the fastest as the operation needs to be carried out before the elections if the President is going to have a chance at his third term. The corporations vying for the contract take short cuts to increase their profit, as they do, which are allowed by the Fletcher administrations loosening of regulations in the Pharmaceuticals industries. This results in disaster later in the book and is the author showing his reader the underbelly of capitalism and some of the possible repercussions of a bottom line culture.

The only voice of reason in the insane asylum of the white house is the President’s personal advisor. Unfortunately, he is powerless to stop the juggernaut once it gets moving. He is also a man of compromised values as he has sacrificed much of what he believes in in order to gain the President’s ear. A vegetarian, he regularly eats hamburgers with the President so as not to look like a wimp which is only one of his many personal compromises. The only time he does come close to blowing the whistle on the entire operation is when he takes proof of the conspiracy to the Prime Minister of England who instead of publically condemning the United States, ask to receive the inoculation that all Americans are being given for his country as well. The author is Scottish and this would be a criticism of his country’s implicitly with America’s foreign policy actions, such as joining in on the War on Terror.

The book is extremely well written and in my opinion deserves a read by every student in the country not so much because it mirrors many of my own beliefs but because it encourages people to turn a critical eye on those in power and to question motivations. It inspires healthy and constructive criticism. The novel is ruthless in its condemnations, world governments, military, corporations, media agencies, the lust for power; everyone gets egg on their face in this book. Every page has an insight worth exploring and is delivered humorously. The reason the book stays with the reader though, is because it is plausible. The actions of the book mirror many real world events and the fact that it feels like it could possibly happen lend a lot of weight behind the vicious left hook it throws at society. As many other critics have said, this is the Dr. Strangelove of our generation.

Overall Impression: 3, Wordgasm! This book is hillarious and it makes you think about the world we live in and question some of the things that go on around you. Fantastic book.
Provoc-O-Meter: 2, This book is highly provocative as it turns the magnifying glass on current events and the world's governments reactions to them. many people will be challeneged by this book.
Tylenol Rating: 1, This book presents nothig too difficult to absorb. It breaks down even complex issues like the mutating of the bird-flu into a super disease in ways that anyone should be able to understand.

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