This Week in Magazines: McCain's Narrative Problem, Forbes on How Capitalism Will Save Us, and Golfers Cut Back

In a political culture as obsessed with "story lines" as Madison Avenue, John McCain has suffered from "a narrative problem," an aide tells reporter Robert Draper in the Oct. 26 New York Times Magazine's revealing "The Making (and remaking and remaking) of the Candidate."

A troubled campaign's typical finger pointing and blame-shifting is underway, with Karl Rove on Sunday wagging a finger at the finger waggers and apparently being distinctly chagrined by the Draper opus. He sees it as revealing a lack of discipline and loyalty among McCain aides. For sure, chief McCain strategist Steve Schmidt doesn't come off terribly well, but this is not any horrible broadside attack by colleagues on him and it does acknowledge how his belated arrival brought much-needed structure to a supposedly discombobulating operation.

GQ correspondent Draper's effort is really less notable for any trashing of Schmidt than in offering a window onto a frequently typical campaign hothouse, this particular one replete with its own "succession of backfiring narratives": The Heroic Fighter vs. the Quitters, Country-First Deal Maker vs. Nonpartisan Pretender, Leader vs. Celebrity, Team of Mavericks vs. Old-Style Washington (namely the Sarah Palin pick), John McCain vs. John McCain and, now, the Fighter (Again) vs. the Tax-and-Spend Liberal.

This is insightful even if without dramatic revelations. Its version of the Palin selection suggests it was a bit less frenetic than assumed, with thoughtful folks around McCain having stepped back, assessed the field and then agreed on her (apparently watching an old Charlie Rose interview with her had been of reassuring relevance). As the process climaxed, McCain spent an hour with Palin at his ranch, "beside a creek and a sycamore tree, where a rare breed of hawk seasonally nested." They then chatted with Cindy McCain for 15 minutes, with the McCains then speaking alone. The senator subsequently "did our pros and cons on all of them [possible nominees]" with aides Schmidt and Mark Salter, says Salter, and decided on Palin.

This also underscores McCain's Hillary Clinton-like suspicion of Barack Obama. One aide suggests that McCain doesn't like "people who try to do jobs they're not qualified for," alluding to Obama, while Obama's declining to partake in multiple town hall-type meetings was perceived as hypocrisy and a lack of authenticity.

Of course, McCain has opened himself to ample charges of hypocrisy. And, for sure, defeat will lead to a slew of assessments of a purportedly godawful campaign, while the press may naturally slightly exaggerate the seemingly impressive self-discipline and vision of the Obama campaign. And if McCain actually wins? Well, some major story lines, right now sitting on computer screens and awaiting insertion of final election figures, will need the media equivalent of emergency quintuple bypass surgery.

In that case, the notoriously "erratic" McCain campaign will perhaps morph into the impressively "nimble" and "flexible" McCain campaign.

Elsewhere:

---Whether Defense Secretary Robert Gates is auditioning to be kept by the next president is unclear, but his Newsweek interview will surely resonate with Obama. Gates stresses a need for soft power and strengthening nonmilitary institutions, like the Agency for International Development, which he feels (correctly) have been gutted the past 15 or so years. Get this: We have more people in military bands than we do Foreign Service officers, Gates says.

---Time is a bit thin this week ("Will the Market Kill Your Marriage?") but worth Joe Klein's homage to Obama and details of an apparently lively rhetorical duel between Obama and Gen. David Petraeus over Iraq policy; rarely understated Republican strategist Mike Murphy on the paranoia inevitably gripping campaigns near the end as they fret over vote-related conspiracies by the other camp; and a smart look at senior citizen literary heavyweights Toni Morrison (77), John Updike (76) and Philip Roth (75) each returning to old stories and themes in new novels out this fall, with Updike and Roth "gently upbraiding their younger selves for their narrowness of vision, for their lack of interest in the world around them."

---Nov. 3 New Yorker's best might well be Margaret Talbot's look at our bona fide cultural divide over teen pregnancy, including the sharp differences over conservatives' inclination toward abstinence-only education programs. The most interesting element is growing frustration among members of the evangelical Christian camp over the seeming failures of their approach and the reality of teen pregnancy among their children. Elsewhere, Connie Bruck does nicely amplifying on the political and personal rift between two rather similar Republican senators, John McCain and Chuck Hagel, with her Hagel profile underscoring his chagrin with his former buddy's aggressive foreign-policy stands, notably on the Iraq war. Still, it suggests that those-in-the-know could see a President-elect McCain asking Hagel to serve in his cabinet, and Hagel agreeing. Hmmm.

---Nov. 10 Forbes did not have to stray far beyond the office for its cover boy, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes. With his dark suit and the somber background, one wonders if this is what John Beresford Tipton, unseen benefactor in the 1950s CBS smash hit "The Millionaire," would have resembled if we'd ever actually seen the character (there was only his back and right arm as he passed the $1 million checks meant for deserving souls to his intermediary). Forbes' "How Capitalism Will Save Us" briefly concedes the need for "quick and direct massive infusions of new equity into beleaguered banks" by the government but largely dismisses a long-term government role, reiterates his craving for lower taxes and argues that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be broken up into a variety of new, private firms.

---"How New York Stole the Luxury Art Market" in the summer-autumn issue of Winterthur Portfolio: A Journal of American Material Culture takes us back to 19th century America as it profiles the path-breaking American Art Association and how its biggest auctions of private collections altered the whole market and inspired rituals still on display today. It decided to no longer play to mostly local merchants and instead sucked up to a growing group of entrepreneurs in transportation, finance, real estate and heavy manufacturing, in the process adroitly publicizing "a new brand of elite class identity and affiliation." This included selling for "an astounding $23" a catalogue for the auction of the collection of steamship heiress Mary Morgan. (Hey, back then, 23 bucks meant something!) The growing exclusivity of luxury auctions included participants' aversion to actually calling out their bids, opting instead to raise an eyebrow, scratch an ear, rub a chin "or insert a finger in the button-hole of your coat."

---Oct. 27 Sports Illustrated indicates that pro golfers, a decidedly Republican bunch, "are already coming face-to-face with the harsh realities of the current financial climate," with some cutting back on spending "$200,000, $300,000 a year to $1 million-plus" to fly on private planes. An official of Sentient Jet, the PGA Tour's private jet company, indicates that some players are changing their habits "a little. If they make the cut [playing well enough in a tournament's first two rounds to be eligible to play and make money in the final two rounds], they fly private on the way home; if they miss the cut, they fly commercial."

Comments

[justShareandbeNice]

I was blown away by the New York Magazine article on McCain.

What I came away with: It's ALL made up. It is all a story. A "narrative" they like to call it. His campaign sounds an awful lot like the story telling they told us about Iraq, before the war. They lie and lie and it is easy to see through but they could care less. They just add a plot line, preferably one that is reallly scary.

The entire article is illuminating because you get a whole string of details about the campaign. No big news, but put it all together and you just have to come to the conclusion that his campaign is not based in any reality, let alone philosophy or strategy. No one is really in charge. Just a bunch of people pretending to know what they are doing. It is amazing how ignorant they are of the real world.

They are TV producers, essentially. Bad ones, but still. They market their man and attack the other man. The content of what they say doesn't matter. There is no moral, ethical basis. Very sick. Don't they EVER think about the fact that they are just telling a made-up story to the American people. No, they apparantly have no historical sense, moral sense, or concern for the future. Tragic and dangerous.

[rivirobo]

Primitive Communism: as seen in cooperative tribal societies.
Slave Society: which develops when the tribe becomes a city-state. Aristocracy is born.
Feudalism: aristocracy is the ruling class. Merchants develop into capitalists.
Capitalism: capitalists are the ruling class, who create and employ the true working class.
Socialism ("Dictatorship of the proletariat"): workers gain class consciousness, overthrow the capitalists and take control over the state.
Communism: a classless and stateless society.

I got this from the internet. Of these, so far USA is a combination of these: Slave Society(African slaves),Feudalism (Reagan/Bush/McCain economy), and Capitalism (somewhat, but a myth). Obama (a true Democracy), with an emphasis on regulated Capitalism is what we need.

[avraamjack]

.
How many times can someone hit a stupid little white ball into a stupid little hole and not be completely bored out of his mind?
.

[appalling]

Golfing. Even the Repubican's 'sport' is a fraud as a sport. Ranked just above cheerleading by ESPN.

[ProgressiveInAZ]

Poor, poor pro golfers. I think we should take up a collection for them so they are not forced to submit to the ultimate shame of FLYING COMMERCIAL!

[edva]

Careful folks. Isn't it un-American to criticise Capitalism? I mean, it's constantly linked with our Democracy, in every utterance of those in Washington, to the point where I thought it was one-and-the-same, e.g. "Capitalistdemocracyandthefreemarketsystemblahblahblah..."

[northstar11]

capitalism will save us.

right after collectively and painfully society bails out the capitalists

[ProudAmerican23]

Golfers,having to cut back??? OH MY! This certainly sounds like the great depression of the 1930s that I keep hearing everyone claim we are in! Guess those old B&W photos of people lined up waiting that Ive seen are actually to the Country club and not the Soup Kitchen like Id been led to believe. Id been hearing for over a year (on liberal media) how we were "in" a Recession, how we had lost the war, and that doom and gloom and all the worlds problems were all Bushs fault.... I hope we apply the same standard if Obama is elected, it should be funny to watch MSNBC news if he is (since they wont dare say a bad word about him)

[jugganaut]

Pro athletes' indignation over *gasp* having to pay more in taxes has always struck me as absurdly solipsistic, even moreso than the average wealthy person's.

You're paid extremely well to play a GAME, something that produces nothing of intrinsic value like, say, a company that builds a better mousetrap. Your success is basically supplied by the millions of Joe Lunchbuckets and Eddie Punchclocks who contribute a small percentage of their income to you so they can live their vicarious fantasies through you, and in turn providing a sufficient culture in which the parasitic marketing cottage industry can also compensate you.

If the Joe Lunchbuckets can't buy the crap that your symbiotic marketing parasites endlessly hawk, then you don't get paid either. So you oughta be willing to chuck it up.

[JennyJay]

What a suck-up Gates turned out to be. He, like the rest of America is fearful of losing his job.
Good Riddance to Bad Rubish!

[Erdgeist]

Forbes, who inherited his daddy's wealth, to be sure is a great admirer of "capitalism". One of the first definitions of "capitalism" was by Louis Blanc in his book, Organization of Labor (1850). He defined capitalism as the "appropriation of capital by some to the exclusion of others."

[thebeerdoctor]

Pity the pro golfer who is unable to make the final cut, and has to exit, defeated, flying coach.

[likeicare]

Multi-millionaire golfers having to fly commercial, instead of private, jets . . . ohhhh, the inhumanity!!!

Good piece, Mr. W. -- always enjoy hearing from you!

[RobinSeattle]

The GOP has largely benefited by the present day media's predilection for keeping inane food fights roiling, but now that a big one is occurring inside the McCain campaign, of course the media is going to be all over that. And it is so much fun to watch.

[larry278]

When Time-Warner spins off its mags it will have to do a title change on SI to move it, SPORTS EVISCERATED or SPORTS EMASCULATED would better fit SI's niche of coffee tables of trendoids & its place in dentists & drs waiting rooms. The avid fans read SPORTING NEWS for baseball & niche mags for football, basketball & hockey.
SI is for men who use Royall Lyme or Caswell Massey not people who buy from chain drug & discount stores when they buy scents. What are the big selling brands? Those brands don't advertise in SI. A man knows that his relationship is in trouble if his partner gives him a subscription to SI.
FORBES remains a puff sheet.