What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer

About six weeks ago the good folks at Amazon ran a special in which this seminal political book was available for the Kindle at some ridiculously low price. Long having had it on my to read list I picked it up.

Much as been written about this book over the years. Following in the tradition of Teddy White's The Making of the President Series, only with much more detail and personal history, Cramer's book has for almost two decades been considered the gold standard of political campaign reporting.

In an odd and sad twist when I had made my way about halfway through the book the author, still a relatively young man at 62, passed away. As the tributes flowed in fast and furious if there was any doubt of the importance of what I was reading it soon disappeared.

The book is quite simply a stunning description of the 1988 political race for the Presidency. Following six candidates, four Democrats and the two Republican frontrunners Kramer tells the story of the race through each campaigns eyes as well as providing a significant biography and personal history of each man.

There is much to take away from the book, much indeed, but if anyone is to take away any one thing it is this. The process by which we choose a President, the amount of power the press has to determine the agenda and in many respects the outcome, is beyond measure and out of control. This my friends was in 1988. Imagine now, almost 25 years later how much worse it would be.

It is interesting to note that upon his death how many reporters and members of the media praised this man who, by my estimation, had a great deal of frustration with the role of the press in the campaign.

Reading this book I was struck by a few incidents and stories. To try to offer a view of the book in any detail is beyond a book review or blog post. The book is over one thousand pages, one suspects that is why the initial reviews upon it's release were not that good, the press is and has become, by and large, lazy. Much easier to criticize a book as long winded and filled with minutiae than read it. Over time however the book took hold, people realized how special it was.

It should become a lesson for would be reporters and would be political candidates, a how not to do it if you will. By looking at our press today one suspects however that while they respect the work the lessons are soon lost in the heat of the moment.

If you do not remember on the Republican side that year it was the sitting Vice President George Bush the first versus Kansas Senator Bob Dole. By the end of the book it is very apparent that Cramer had a strong affinity for both these men and their basic goodness. It is surprising in fact to look back, with the benefit of twenty five years of history to see how these two good men, good public servants, truly did not like each other.

Their back stories could not have been different. Poor in Kansas or rich on the East Coast, yet both their parents raised them right. Both served their country heroically. Bush was shot down as a young pilot, Dole suffered life threatening and life changing injuries. Both were party men through the rise and fall of Nixon, both lost to Reagan in 1980 and both considered 1988 their last chance at the Presidency.


On the Democratic side there were a multitude of candidates but it was a truly cannibalistic affair. It was here that the press was out of control. The frontrunner as the field was set was Gary Hart. Hart who had lost to Mondale in 1984 seemed filled with destiny. Resigning his Senate seat in 1986 so he could concentrate full time on the Presidency Hart ended up run out of the race because of as Cramer puts it " the Karacter issue." The scenes of the press as they set upon Hart are truly disturbing. The pack mentality is something that should make anyone, left or right, uncomfortable. The most disturbing thing in the whole story of Gary Hart is how incredibly talented he was. How he was ready to be President, how he had a plan beyond anything any of the other candidates even thought about. Yet, he lost it all. He made mistakes but the press ruined him. One has to wonder if some of the men that Cramer profiles on the press side ever forgave him for showing their unattractive sides.

Joe Biden, our Vice President was also in that race. Just as he was catching fire Biden blew up over the plagiarism charges. Even though he had credited the British politician Neil Kinnock when using the line in previous speeches Biden did not in one speech and the story took hold. There might never have been a man better suited to be President. As he rose in the polls the squeaky clean campaign of Mike Dukakis leaked tapes of Biden speaking and blew the whistle on the Kinnock story. Biden was at worst sloppy but it was a ridiculous story and if anything the laziness of the press in the destruction of Joe Biden was even worse.

Dukakis is portrayed as just what he was. A highly moral, holier than thou Greek American who had been a highly successful Governor who believed in the process. He was aghast when the Biden leak came back to his staff. One has no doubt believing he did not know, but yet he just cannot come across as likable. In retirement as I wrote he is still the same man, proper and good. Yet there is no doubt that his refusal to be a politician, his inability to relate cost him the Presidency.

I write last about Richard Gephardt because his story is probably the most moving in the book. This man who seemed destined for great things. This man who was the ideal Democrat, the liberal. He lost. And as I wrote recently in my political blog there is no example in modern politics of a man who has sold his soul more worse than Richard Gephardt. Read this book and look at all of Gephardt's issues and core concerns. Then look at who he lobbies for today and what sides he has worked for and against in his career since leaving Congress. It is the worst story you will hear this week, this month, this year, it is bad enough to be a bad politician, what Gephardt has done is akin to the Devil being kicked out of Heaven, He is a political Judas. Disgusting in the extreme.

Carve out some time before the next round of Presidential politics. This book should be read before 2016. Then you will have the knowledge of a race 28 years ago, and see how little has changed. In a sense 1988 was the beginning of the end, any leftover regard for the Presidency, much in decline after Watergate, was gone after Reagan left office, after Hart and Biden were run out of office. Four years later we had Bill Clinton who unlike Hart survived his mistakes but it has never been the same. In today's world there is always chum in the water. Richard Ben Cramer describes when any luster in running for the Presidency was lost for good.

NBC's Revolution Continues to Improve

While I have written earlier about the difficulties shows of this nature have in keeping the excitement they create at their beginning Revolution continues each week to bring it's viewers into a world that is more and more interesting.

JJ Abrams is making use of the same device we saw on Lost, that is, slowly filling in the backstory on the characters in the show. Of course many shows might follow this practice but each time it is done in this show thus far I have never failed to be surprised at the history of the character being revealed. It makes the characters much more complex to have this information.

Aside from the plot twists and the fact that we are learning much more about each of the characters we also are becoming used to offhand references and asides which, for those of us in the know, create smiles, nods, or if you are playing along at home a checkmark for another " cookie" found.

In just the past couple of weeks we have seen a reference to Stephen King's The Stand characters such as Stu Redman and Frannie Goldsmith, as well as last night having the password for members of the resistance be asking for a biography of Joe Biden. Pretty clever stuff.

We still do not know of it's long term success but if you have been waiting for the right time to catch up on this show and enjoy the new episodes now might be an opportune time. It is becoming must see television.

SNL at the Top of It's Game

Saturday Night Live has now been on the air 37 years. As we watch the show from week to week one of the most frustrating facts that we realize is that this show can in one week can go from funny and relevant to having an episode that is terrible. Sometimes the skits that do not work make you think to yourself who, in their right mind, thought this would be funny.

With that being true there is another truth however and that is that SNL has a place in our popular culture that no other show has. While the late night comics consistently pick on our politicians and the news as part of their monologues and Jon Stewart has turned political spear-throwing into an art form no show is more relevant than SNL in demonstrating the humor of current events.

Saturday night's show was not perfect. One wonders why we continue to see Kenan Thompson's French singer on Weekend Update for example, but to counter that the Arianna Huffington skit was topical, funny and biting. One wonders if Democratic candidates could speak on women's issues in as strong and sharp a way as the Huffington character in this skit does if they would be further down the path to victory.

The most predictable skit in the show this week was the opening sequence which covered the debate between the Vice Presidential candidates. Certainly both of the candidates gave much material to be parodied. The skit was very well done, both sides were picked apart, notably the easy parody of Biden's physical gesturing and interruption tactics came early, but the skit did not stop there. It was not just the easy targets but more nuance was also apparent. A wonderful skit.

Still outside the political the most talked about skit, the skit that perhaps was more scathing, more bite the hand that feeds you, than anything we have seen in years was the Tech Talk skit. With Christina Applegate playing the host of a show in which folks complained about their new Apple phones the bite was when she, as host, introduced three peasant workers from China who make the phones. The contrast between the two groups forces shame on the Americans complaining and is a great critique of the American consumer.

At it's best SNL still skewers the culture better than any other entity.

What I Learned When I Almost Died by Chris Licht

I saw this book on Amazon and the title is a grabber. It is a short 160 page book but I was interested. Primarily my interest was grabbed because Licht is the executive producer of my morning favorite Morning Joe. Hearing the backstory of how he came to be producer on this show and of his relationship with Joe Scarborough and Mika, two of my favorite people in the world to watch.

In the book Licht describes a day that as he finished a show one morning, he was checking his voicemail and he felt a pop in his head and soon was suffering from an excruciating headache.

We follow him through the emergency department of George Washington hospital in D C. We see his father, a physician himself, tell him as he is being driven to the hospital to tell them that he never gets headaches and his head hurts worse than it ever has and he needs a catscan. This is a code doctors understand that they may be dealing with something life threatening.

Licht over the course of the day and then the weeks after goes through a multitude of tests. As happens in a small amount of cases he suffers no long term damage but they also never find the cause of the bleed. If it was an anuerysm they never find it and assume it repaired itself.

It is good news of course but also leaves one feeling vulnerable in the future. Licht admits freely to being a Type A personality and being an ass much of the time in his work progression. He states he cannot see himself moving to the beach and being all peace, love and happiness but admits the incident gives him pause.

I must say that though we are pleased to see him doing well the books title is a bit misleading. Licht talks about slowing down and letting go of anger over what happened, he does learn to not sweat things that in the end mean nothing compared to almost dieing but those looking for him to have a revalation of epic proportions will not find it.

Still an interesting book, a small investment in time. It is nice to see his good friends and the involvement of Joe Biden who is clearly one of the nicest men in politics you will find.

And we learned the code, if struck with an intense pain out of nowhere it might be good to know what to say to make sure you are taken seriously.