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."