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Pages of Notes on This Book--Other Reviews Largely Worthless May 31, 2006 (62 of 75 found this helpful)
Edited to remove opening at suggeastion of earnest Amazonian, and to add several books and recommend my list of transpartisan books based in part on Reuniting America's list.
I have five pages of notes on this book, which is my 708th book of non-fiction pertaining to national security and competitiveness, and in the context of the other 707 books (okay, three on MGBs and three on menopause), this is, without question, a five star book.
There are several key points that I take very seriously, and I believe that this book could usefully be read with moderate Republican Clyde Prestowitz's ROGUE NATION, and Senator Edward Kennedy's AMERICA: Back on Track. Readers interested in my recommendations might also look at my lists, especially my lists of Democracy and on Collective Intelligence.
Key point #1: AUTHENTICITY is lacking in politics, and could be what wins the 2008 election for either John McCain, if he can avoid the "born again Bushophile" slander, or Mark Warner, if he can bring himself to field the moderate Republican from Maine Susan Collins as a Vice President, and a coalition cabinet committed to electoral reform. McCain is especially attractive to me because he could--as author Joe Klein notes--fix the military by ending military-industrial-congressional corruption and putting a stop to corporate welfare. Warner, on the other hand, could field a credible coaltion government that ends both the corruption of special interests and the corruption of the Republican and Democratic party leadership who force their party members to vote the party line instead of their conscience (see Tom Coburn's superb BREACH OF TRUST).
Key point #2: Consultants have drained democracy dry and actually driven voters away. This is almost a no-holds barred indictment of the consultants and polling firms that grew from the 1970's. The author is especially pointed and strong on Patrick Caddell and on Bob Shrum, with Joe Trippi getting honorable mentions. On the one hand, the author slams polling and consulting for distorting both what the people think, and for vacating the value of real leadership--he is compelling in suggesting that the people want leaders to lead with vision and authenticity, rather than follow the numbers like sheep.
Key Point #3: Politics, in its highest form, was Bobby Kennedy in Indianapolis on the night of Martin Luther King's murder by assassination. The author opens with this vignette, the rest of the book is about politics at its lowest form.
Key Point #4: Television has changed how we select our leaders, and this is generally a very very bad thing. In turn, the cost of television advertisements has fueled massive corruption within both parties. Since the airwaves are part of the public broadcast spectrum, it is certainly clear to me that we have to eliminate the cost of television advertising, and demand equal free time for all validated candidates, at all levels. This is a non-negotiable condition for democracy in the multi-media era.
Key Point #5: Witch hunts and negative politics are the stock of the mediocrities that populate both the Republican and the Democratic parties (I am a moderate Republican and consider both parties to be equally corrupt, the Democrats are simply more inept).
Key Point #6: Here the author is supported by Henry Kissinger (see my review of DOES AMERICA NEED A FOREIGN POLICY?), as both consider the speed of politics and the speed of the real world to have dramatically out-paced the sources and methods by which we acquire, evaluate, and act on information. Government--and the U.S. Intelligence Community and the general inter-agency policy deliberation process are, in one word, INCOMPETENT. We desperately need to harness collective intelligence through new open source software and open source intelligence capabilities that are widely and freely available to citizens as well a
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An interesting, personal glimpse into politics as an insider sees it Oct 4, 2006 (7 of 7 found this helpful)
Joe Klein has spent his career interviewing and writing about politicians. This book, Politics Lost, pulls together various threads from this experience to give an interesting, personal glimpse into politics for those of us who have never met a president or presidential candidate. Unfortunately, it's not a pleasant picture. Our schools tend to teach us that our system of government works very well, a shining example for the world. Not so, according to Joe Klein's view of it. He sees, as the subtitle says, that American democracy has been trivialized.
That point is made, and made convincingly. But for me, Joe Klein's description and analysis of prominent politicians formed the heart of the book. For example, he does not like Howard Dean, finding him shallow and of little substance. On the other hand, he does like John McCain, finding his "straight talk" refreshing. The personal details he relates about McCain added depth to the portrait Klein painted of him. He notes that McCain's arms function so poorly that he cannot raise them enough to comb his own hair. That a result of the several times his arms were broken during his years of captivity in Vietnam.
He also tells of John Kerry's standing up for the other military veterans in the Senate, regardless of party. That, and some other personal details about Kerry made him seem more human than he did on the campaign trail.
And that is the strength of Joe Klein's writing. Yes, he takes sides, praising Robert Kennedy to the stars and criticizing other people. But unlike similar books on politics, Klein's writing seems more thoughtful, seeing the human side (both good and bad) of politicians ranging in philosophy from Kennedy to Reagan, and in between.
I'm not a fan of books on politics. Perhaps I made a mistake reading one of Ann Coulter's books and one of Al Franken's. Both I found to be shallow and boring. Perhaps you have to be a partisan of like stripe to enjoy those.
But with Joe Klein's Politics Lost, anyone can find valuable views. In fact, as much as anything, Klein's book made me think again that the extreme partisanship, the focus on Republican battling Democrat, misses the point. Will we ever see our government leaders focus on running the country rather than on getting elected? Or has the emergence of the perpetual campaign Klein talks about made that impossible?
Let's hope that Politics Lost can be found again.
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The Melodrama of the Mediocre Pundit Aug 21, 2006 (23 of 30 found this helpful)
It sure is easy for pundits and commentators to get book deals these days, when you can sell a tirade of personal opinions and second guessing as in-depth political analysis. Joe Klein has the added distinction of criticizing other people for doing exactly what he does, and of complaining about political and media trends from which he benefits directly. Klein has a reasonable basic point here about modern lowest-common-denominator politicking, in which image and sloganeering are seen as more important than knowledge and leadership. But Klein, in a display of mind-boggling myopia, can't even see that this exact same phenomenon allows weak and opinionated books like this to qualify as serious political analysis.
Granted, this book gets off to a pretty good start, with a prologue describing a 1968 campaign speech by Robert F. Kennedy, in which RFK spoke intelligently and respectfully to an African American crowd just hours after the Martin Luther King assassination. Klein laments the total disappearance of RFK-style dignity in modern American politics, and vows to analyze what has gone wrong and how modern campaigns can be made intelligent again. But this potential focus promptly disappears without a trace after the prologue. What follows is actually a history of the influence of villainous pollsters and consultants in recent presidential campaigns. Klein usefully criticizes the sappy image experts and number crunchers first, before spending much more time second guessing, with 20-20 hindsight, the losses of unsuccessful candidates.
The unintentional irony of Klein's punditry is unstoppable throughout the book. He complains about everyone else's unyielding ideology while simultaneously, and unilaterally, pronouncing certain positions, such as U.S. military superiority, as "correct" or "unassailable." Klein laments how over-hyped pollsters have made it a liability for politicians to appear realistically human, but then declares that certain presidential candidates (Democrats in general and Al Gore in particular) lost because they didn't appear - you guessed it - realistically human. In another contradiction, Klein forgives George W. Bush for lacking issue-specific knowledge, but later slams Howard Dean for the exact same thing. Klein also fancies himself a nonpartisan because he can criticize and disagree with both Republicans and Democrats, but this is merely an equal-opportunity mutation of the shallow punditry that he disdains from everyone else in his field. Even in these ridiculous political times, it's stupefying how much this book contributes to, and benefits from, the very problems it claims to debunk. But that's what passes for "analysis" these days. [~doomsdayer520~]
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Only if you have extra time...which most of us don't Aug 7, 2006 (9 of 11 found this helpful)
Joe Klein, the famed political observer and critic, levies his newest assault upon political consultants. Klein argues that the incessant polling and focus grouping of political campaigns have robbed our politicians of their authentic voice. Political speeches are now watered-down, pre-packaged and sterilized messages devoid of all spontaneity. He further contends that elected leaders are forced to be on a "permanent campaign," meaning that they continuously follow polls and public opinion rather than, well, lead. "The presidency of George W. Bush represented the final, squalid perfection of the Permanent Campaign that Pat Caddell first suggested to Jimmy Carter in 1976." To this point, I cheer Klein on with a loud and supportive "right on."
It is difficult, however, to stand behind a reporter who cannot see the proverbial plank in his own eye. Klein fails to take a modicum of responsibility for his own patronage of the "Permanent Campaign." As a reporter, he must admit that the 24-hour news cycle and the sound bite hunting pundits create the demand for overly-tested statements. Klein calls for spontaneity, but spontaneity means making mistakes and being human. The incessant replay of Dean's scream or Kerry's famous line, "I voted for it before I voted against it," doesn't inspire a candidate to be authentic and natural in the campaign process. Klein berates Gore's consultants for "over handling" the message, while he simultaneously criticizes Gore's bad (and, most likely, spontaneous) behavior in the 2000 presidential debates. My god, in this climate, wouldn't you opt for caution? Klein would do well to include himself and his political press cronies in this lashing.
It is important to remember that Joe Klein is first and foremost a critic. As many in his line of work tend to do, he relishes the opportunity to launch a spurious attack while he contributes little to advance the collective (and much needed) dialogue.
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A Pundit Decries Politicians as Bad Actors and Consultants as Poor Scriptwriters Jan 2, 2007 (5 of 6 found this helpful)
It must be tough to follow losing presidential campaign after losing campaign for decades. You see missed opportunities. You are dismayed by how phony people come across who are pretty decent in private. You see the same mistakes made over . . . and over . . . and over again. Ultimately, you must also get a little jaded as two very wealthy people square off in 2004 with only personalities being pursued in the campaign. It must be good therapy to write a book about your frustrations.
The bulk of Politics Lost recounts vivid moments from the campaign trail that Mr. Klein has experienced. He likes politicians being candid and unscripted in heart-felt ways. I do too. But I found that I got pretty tired of Mr. Klein being tired by all the lack of candor in the babble of badly scripted, badly acted speeches.
Beneath his fundamental point about permanent campaigning led by consultants being a bad way to run a campaign, there's a more fundamental point: If you win with consultant-driven campaigning based on personalities, you can't govern unless you get handed a national crisis on a platter. The American political process is broken. Few would disagree.
You needed to read a book to learn that? Well, hardly.
I was disappointed that the book missed addressing a more fundamental point: Why is the electorate willing to let politics collapse as a somewhat honorable activity? Some would argue that it's because the government counts less and less in terms of how it affects peoples' lives. Others would argue that politics is more like rooting for your favorite football or baseball team; it's a sport rather than a serious practice. I'm not sure, but I would have liked Mr. Klein's views on that question. But, alas, he doesn't like to look to the electorate very much. He prefers to pillory politicians, pollsters, and consultants.
If you like to see politicians and consultants on both sides of the aisle Gored and Bush-whacked in print, you'll like this book much better than I did.