What do George and Laura Bush have in common with Dick and Jane? Well, both hail from prototypical WASP families. And, perhaps more to the point, both exhibit a natural resistance to moral complexity (i.e., reality).
That’s the premise of this hilarious new primer-style book in which George, Laura, and the entire Bush family communicate with uncharacteristic expressiveness, conveying shades of of feeling and nuances of meaning that plain old English can’t deliver — by peppering their conversatuon with Yiddishisms.
See George’s mother.
Her name is Bar.
She wears a lot of pearls and is a farbisseneh.
“You are late, George,” Bar says.
“Of course I am late,” George says.
“I am the President of the United States. I am a big macher.”
Like all good primers, Yiddish with George and Laura tells a simple story — and, in the end, important life lessons are imparted.
