Possible Themes

After finishing The Natural I was trying to think of what Joe Klein’s theme for the book was. There seem to be several that can be pulled out.
The first, and the most prevalent in the book, I thought was the wasted potential of the Clinton presidency. Klein obviously has heaps of respect for President Clinton, especially with regards to the president’s emotional radar, his ability to sense the emotional needs of his audience and deliver on them, which made him such a great public orator. Klein also appreciates Clinton’s incredible policy knowledge and desire for reform, but despite these admirable qualities of the man, the administration was bogged down by scandals, indecisiveness, and disorganization. Klein speculates that the disappointment in the administration was not so much because of these reasons or for the policy failures such as healthcare and the Israel-Pakistan negotiations, but because of his inability to inspire the increasingly apathetic public.
Another extremely prevalent theme was Klein’s belief that both the media and the politicians went ballistic about the personal lives of not just the president, but many other public servants of his time. The Clinton presidency seemed to start the era of investigations, where you must have a spotless public and personal record in order to be a politician. If not, you will be ripped to shreds be destructively partisan investigation committees. The media aides this by further prying into politician’s lives and reporting the unimportant, negative stories of government leaders’ personal lives.
One of the things I found most interesting about the book was its perspective. Since it was published in 2002 Klein did not know many of the things we know now when he wrote it. One of the most memorable instances of this is when he writes how President Bush’s success relied so much on the help of others. It is interesting to think about this now in the context that the president has some of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history.

Fiction v. Nonfiction

I think I speak for most of my peers when I say most of my rather limited background in literature has been in fiction. Not only have I chosen to read mostly fiction books, but it seems like we read mostly fiction books in school as well. The Natural, being a nonfiction book, brings up some discussion points that we have not addressed this year.


For instance, perhaps because I am so familiar with his writing, I find myself wondering about Joe Klein’s point-of-view. He does not try to hide his familiarity and relationship with the subject of the book, Bill Clinton. I doubt this relationship effects Klein’s writing, except for enabling him to write a more interesting story, but I have to wonder if his ideologies perhaps do. It is fairly clear in his writing that Klein is slightly left leaning, and especially identifies with the New Democrat principles. In my mind, this seems to create in his writing a slight bias against Old Democrats such as George Stephanopoulos and Hilary Clinton, and especially against their projects like healthcare reform. One bias of his that I find refreshing however is against the media’s enjoyment of reporting stories with little merit, but that embarrass politicians.

Another major difference between the two genres I personally find is that in nonfiction books there is generally less to analyze. Often the writer tries to simply present information with out adding easily analyzable aspects. For instance, there is usually far less use of literary techniques in nonfiction books. The author also usually tries to make their theme fairly explicit which does not allow for as much interpretation. With all this being said however, I believe nonfiction books can be very interesting and I am looking forward to the rest of The Natural.

Second Quarter Outside Reading

This quarter I have decided to continue my reading of Joe Klein, this time with his published works. I have already gotten two books of his, The Natural, which seems to be a fairly short easy read, so I also plan on reading one of his novels, The Running Mate. After these two books I will have pretty much read all his works so I may finally be able to move on to a different writer for Third Quarter.

Foregone Conclusion?

In this last week before the election, the American press and public seem to almost think the election is a foregone conclusion in a victory for Obama. However there is still interesting analysis to be made. Joe Klein wrote a very interesting column this week about why Obama will most likely win on November 4, and also about the exclusive interview he had with Obama a week ago. An interesting anecdote Klein recounts is the story of Obama’s meeting with General David Patraeus. Obama and Patraeus differed on the issue of whether to institute a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. Instead of just peacefully disagreeing with Patraeus, Obama made a gut decision to have a constructive discussion about the issue. I think this shows both Obama’s impressive knowledge of the issues as well as his temperament which many Americans have found appealing. Another interesting topic Klein discusses is how Obama, Patraeus, and McCain want to deal with Afghanistan. It seems, though Patraeus hasn’t admitted it in so many words, that Patraeus and Obama favor negotiating with the Taliban. It seems to me if two smart men with ideological differences like these two can agree on a course of action, it is most likely the correct one to take. Klein once again reinforces the idea that Obama’s even-keeled temperament is remarkable, and that it is the factor that caused many American’s to vote for him. In an audio breakdown of the interview, Klein makes a comparison that is very interesting that I had not heard yet this election year. The thing we seem to get a lot more of from Obama than our Presidents in recent history is maturity.

MInnesota's Sixth Congressional District

This past week I have been brushing up on my more local politics, especially the 6th Congressional district race between Rep. Michele Bachmann and Elwin Tinklenberg. After reading a series of articles in the Star Tribune, I must admit I have an almost extreme bias against Rep. Bachmann. The first article, about their debate, was merely the foundation. One of the things I dislike about Bachmann is her strategy to make any somewhat controversial remarks made by an opponent into a insult to one group or another. This could be seen when she called James Carville’s questions about Palin’s experience “offensive to American women.” It could also be seen in this debate when she used a car accident caused by an illegal immigrant to support her border patrol agenda. Tinkleberg replied, "I think it's just a little untoward to exploit a tragic situation to advance a narrow ideological agenda,” to which she said he was being “highly offensive.” I don’t know, but I thought Bachmann’s remarks were the offensive one’s and Tinkleberg was just being reasonable. Bachmann made several more divisive comments during th debate that seem to be typical of her.

The next article both shocked me and made me somewhat embarrassed that Bachmann is a Minnesotan. Apparently, while on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Bachmann said that she believes Obama has “anti-American views,” he had a “very strong association with Bill Ayers,” and while she was at it she called for an “exposé” of liberals in Congress, to see if they hold these same “anti-American” views. Sounds like someone’s calling for a rebirth McCarthyism. This is really just a continuation of the theme of the last article. Bachmann seems to be constantly negative, poorly informed, and almost childish in her attacks. After watching the video, I find myself a staunch supporter of the Tinklenberg campaign.

The third article really made me smile. It always makes me happy when Republicans feel the aftermath of their unintelligent remarks. It seems after Bachmann interview on Hardball, there was an incredible influx of support for the Tinklenberg campaign. Something like $450,000 in 24 hours. The notion that this embarrassment to Minnesotans may not be reelected makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Running Out of Time

As the election creeps one week closer, the Obama campaign is wishing the election were held today. They currently hold momentum that has been so far unprecedented in this campaign. Joe Klein comments on this in his new article, “The Obama Surge: Will it Last?” Klein writes about Obama’s success in the debates. Klein has written several times that Obama’s advantage has been twofold, he has been calm and collected and he has been able to offer clear solution to the problems facing America today. Klein uses his answers in the debates, saying healthcare is a right, not a privilege or responsibility, and explaining the economics of the financial bailout as examples of this. I personally thought Obama was by far the more presidential candidate in all the debates, even more so then the mainstream media. The most interesting part of Klein’s analysis is that American citizens are finally judging Obama on the content of his cool, collected character, instead of his race. However in the article, Klein does present some criticism of Obama. While Obama has been more truthful with the American public than most candidates in recent memory, Klein realizes the American public will demand more from a president in these troubled times.

Klein also wrote this week on Swampland his review of Palin and the public’s response to her so far in the campaign. I agree with his opinion that Palin was an extremely unqualified choice that McCain made without the necessary information. It also brings up the point, that I also agree with, that McCain would have rather chosen Joe Lieberman for his Vice President, and most likely would have had a better chance to win if he had done so. Also, I think the Vice Presidential debate would have been fascinating if it had been between Lieberman and Biden.

Bad News for GOP

As the election season heats up, politics this week has been getting even more interesting. Firstly, I found an article on Swampland showing the most recent poll of Minnesotans which has Al Franken ahead of Norm Coleman by 9 percent. Officially, the Star Tribune poll has Franken at 43% Coleman at 34% and Dean Barkley at 18%. This is a meaningful poll because for the first time, one of the candidates is leading the other outside the margin of error of the poll. I personally find this poll very interesting because I never thought that Franken would have a chance at winning in Minnesota, but I’m not sure how I feel about the race in general. I have felt that many of Coleman’s attacks on Franken have been unfair and many times false. However, I have my misgivings about Franken representing our state, though I have to say as of now I am favoring him.

I also read Joe Klein’s most recent “Anger vs. Steadiness in the Crisis”, which is all about the different temperaments of McCain and Obama. In Klein’s opinion, part of Obama’s recent surge in the polls has been due to his much calmer approach to everything from the bailout to the debates. In some ways Obama has been forced into this position. It is almost impossible for an angry, black man to be elected President. Accuse me of playing the race card if you want, but with John McCain’s recklessness and risk taking, he would not be in his current position. Klein ends the article with an analogy I have heard in many political articles recently. It seems John McCain’s only hope is to try for yet another Hail Mary pass, similar to his choice of Palin as his VP and to suspend his campaign to work on resolving the economic crisis.