NewswireTODAY - /newswire/ - London, United Kingdom, 2008/11/11 - With Obama as US president, a new scenario is possible. Stewart imagines America under the light of Georgist theories - The-President.co.uk.

A timely book, both in terms of the American presidential election with its decisive vote for change, and of the credit crunch which has shown up the need for a fundamental rethink of the global economic system.

Set in the context of an American presidential election, this novel echoes Barack Obama’s call for change. John Duncan, the incumbent president seeking re-election, has an epiphany. He recognises that his well-meaning efforts have not really solved the problems of ordinary people.
This realisation of the need for fundamental change dawns on him after an unusual experience one morning. He walks out of the White House unseen, leaving his Chief-of-Staff in a panic when no one can find the President. Just before the alarm is raised, he is spotted sitting on a park bench near the Lincoln Memorial, his only disguise a baseball cap pulled well over his eyes. He is whisked back into the protective environment of the establishment in the White House.

The Commander in Chief of the most powerful military force in the world has acted strangely and explanations are sought by media and politicians, but the President is far from apologetic. It is he who is asking questions because he has seen the need for radical change and is determined to do something about it - to the horror of his re-election campaign staff who are afraid he will throw away his chance of winning a second term.

He starts by taking every opportunity to talk up the possibility of a more inclusive and just society. While avoiding specifics, he makes a strong argument that continued widespread poverty in the richest nation in history is a moral issue, and challenges his audiences to think in more ambitious terms about creating a fairer society.
Having secured the nation’s attention, he poses three questions: What is location value? Who creates it? To whom does it belong? By letting the questions hang, this canny president ensures the debate goes beyond the normal reactions of vested interests and habitual modes of thought. John Stewart’s novel challenges the view that ‘there is no alternative’ and helps us to think about what that alternative might look like.

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