Shmoo & Ozzie Go to Washington is marketed as a study in cross-party teamwork, but in practice it shines a light on squandered spending.
Shmoo & Ozzie Go to Washington, a self-published children’s book about bipartisanship written by two high schoolers, Ellie Gottheimer and Larra Mullin, received favorable coverage this summer in The New York Times and Fox News. The national media coverage was partly because the two teenagers are the daughters of Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D–N.J.) and Markwayne Mullin, the former Oklahoma Republican senator, now the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Shmoo hails from the city and Ozzie from a ranch, yet the two dogs bury their differences when their cherished dog park faces closure. Instead of asking why the park is fiscally unsound, they press the Dog Congress, where both of their fathers sit as lawmakers, to fund their pet project.
It’s not fair to mock a children’s book authored by teenagers, especially since proceeds from sales go to a nonprofit helping homeless children, but you can pick from several criticisms: nepotism, pork-barrel politics, or the fact that Larra Mullin’s DHS-head father now oversees a vast network of detention facilities, which would be akin to Ozzie’s dad running the dog pound.
Teaching youngsters to move beyond partisan rancor is a worthwhile message, but bipartisanship in support of ill-advised ideas is something the dogs should handle.
