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Anyone who reads this review without singing the theme tune from ‘My Date with the President’s Daughter’ can have an ice cream on me. I don’t believe it can be done – prove me wrong internet readers, prove me wrong.Meg Powers’ mother is a highly successful senator. To others, especially her over enthusiastic teacher, Meg will always be ‘the senator’s daughter’ and Meg can’t help but see herself as a less athletic, less attractive, less intelligent version of her mother. One of the first things Meg thinks about her mom is that ‘her mother was the kind of woman who made her wish she had on pumps.’ The first time readers see them together Meg makes several other negative comparisons between herself and her mother, setting up a pattern for the way Meg defines herself.
But what if her mom wasn’t just a senator, what if she went all the way and became the first female President of the United States of America? Meg can’t see any positives about her mother entering the presidential race; her mom already seems an effortless model of perfection that Meg can’t compete with and she’s sure being President will keep her mom away from home even more than her current job does. At first it seems unlikely to Meg that her mom will actually win, but as the campaign progresses, more and more people begin to think it might just happen and surprisingly Meg finds herself standing up for her mother when people express their doubt about the capablities of a female President.
I’m a late convert to the Meg Powers books (they’ve actually been recently reissued with slightly updated political and pop culture references). Ellen Emerson White is one of those writers who can make a third person narrative feel as confidential and intimate as a first person narrative. She makes Meg uncertain about her own feelings, so it never feels as if she is blatantly telling readers how Meg feels, but all the time she’s signaling Meg’s most private thoughts and the clashes that occur in her mind so that readers can become well acquainted with Meg. Meg’s interactions with her family, friends and teachers sound natural, meaning that while Meg is capable of putting a point across she doesn’t always have the perfect comeback at the perfect time.
Meg is one of my favourite young female characters. She’s politically aware to a degree that makes me want to run out and buy current interest books, but she also likes romance novels. She’s intelligent and she knows she has the potential to do even more, but she kind of wants to buck people’s expectations of her. The fact that she takes up the offer of a date, despite knowing the guy probably just wants to date the daughter of a presidential candidate, shows she’s not perfect and she’s not trying to be. The fact that she turns it down in the end shows she has enough commonsense and self-respect to triumph over her fantasies. She’s athletic and competitive when it comes to tennis and even when she skis for fun she wants to take on the hard runs. Finally although she’s conscious of her public image reflecting on her mom she doesn’t want to have to always compromise herself so she sometimes expresses her own views publically and dresses the way she wants to. While she sometimes lacks confidence and can be occassionally be bratty she has qualities that allow her to elevate herself to a new level when required, making her a wonderful example of the flawed heroine. This makes her similar to her mother, although Meg is never a carbon copy of Senator Powers as she wants to excel in different ways and arenas.
I didn’t want to start off talking about Meg’s mom and how she contributes to the excellence of this novel because I know how much Meg would hate being overshadowed by her mother, but Katherine Powers is a huge part of what makes this novel so strong. Not only is her career the plot device that kicks off all the emotional changes in Meg’s life, she’s also a complex character who is fully engaged with the rest of the novel. She’s an astute woman, who longs to change the world and wants to reach the highest levels in her career. She’s adept at creating a public image, but is plagued by private insecurities and cracks emerge behind the scenes as she attempts to balence the most demanding career in America with family life. Her character has depth, just like her daughter’s and it’s possible for readers to form almost the same level of connection to her hopes and her struggles as they can with Meg’s. Meg’s relationship with her mother is probably the defining plot strand of ‘The President’s Daughter’, as her pride in her mother battles with her desire to have a different kind of mother. It’s a difficult theme balence neatly, without taking one character's side and the author’s skillful handling of both Meg and her mom’s points of view will make tons of women instant fans.
While a novel that just focused on Katherine, Meg and their relationship as Katherine campaigns to become President would be interesting ‘The President’s Daughter’ would be poorer without the rest of the Powers family. Meg’s father and brothers are all distinct characters who add extra layers to the story of a family closely connected to politics. Her parent’s relationship has been fraught in the past because of her mom’s career and while there are times of great love between them her father is destined to become the First Man, while his wife will be President, meaning that tension often creeps back into their relationship as they try to keep equality in their relationship. Meg's younger brother Stephen is intensely private and often angry at the impact his mother’s career has on his life, while Neal as the youngest of the family misses having his mother around. Ellen Emerson White wants to closely examine the problems that the election of the first female President could cause for her family, but without providing fodder for those who would use these problems as a reason to keep women out of the Oval Office. She does so with style (as Katherine's aide, Preston would say).
‘The President’s Daughter’ is a compelling start to a series about women in power, featuring an intelligent female teenager. Does anyone think they deserve that ice cream now?
