No Way to Pick a President [Hardcover]

Jules Witcover (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999

A premier political reporter considers our presidential politics and how to improve them-an essential book as campaign 2000 gets under way.

Jules Witcover, who has covered every presidential election since 1952, here combines unparalleled anecdotal knowledge about Presidential politics with scintillating wisdom about just what's wrong with those politics. He shows us, in memorable and dramatic detail, how over the years an influx of professional mercenaries-with no party loyalties and virtually no political principles-has corrupted American public life and formed a new technocracy that dominates every phase of electoral politics. Along with this, television has changed politics dramatically, even destructively, which only discourages voter participation and puts off some of our most promising candidates. In this lively, story-filled book, Witcover examines the many ways in which politicians have condoned or encouraged these developments, and how they have responded to the new demands of a media-driven, money-conscious age. He assesses the effect of campaign funds both "soft" and "hard," and of a press corps that practices invasive, "gotcha" journalism in its own quest for greater celebrity and financial reward. He concludes with sage and experienced recommendations on how to improve our Presidential politics-beginning even this year!-and revive public interest and confidence in American democracy.

Bibliography

Jules Witcover, a native of New Jersey, has been a national news reporter based in the capital since 1954, and, since 1981, a syndicated columnist for the Baltimore Sun. The author of ten books, he lives in Washington, D.C.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The title of longtime Washington journalist Jules Witcover's No Way to Pick a President says it all. His thesis, simply put, is that "the process by which the United States chooses its leader has been hijacked--by money, ambition, and, yes, the ingenuity of the men and women who practice the art of politics." Political consultants who charge a percentage, negative campaigning, the dominance of money and television advertising, the celebritization of journalism, the compressed primary process--all of these, Witcover suggests, are to blame. Political junkies will certainly want to read No Way to Pick a President, but so should everyone who cares about America or is worried about the political process. There are no answers here but a great many important questions worth considering. --Linda Killian

From Publishers Weekly

A syndicated columnist for the Baltimore Sun since 1981, Witcover (The Year the Dream Died, etc.) began covering presidential elections in 1952. His critique of the state of American presidential campaigns touches all the familiar maladies: soft money, the triumph of the sound bite and the visual image over sustained argument, "gotcha" journalism and, above all, the rise of a class of professional political handlers that strips presidential politics of meaningful ideological content. Happily for readers, Witcover brings to the table more knowledge of how politics works today and how it worked in the past than the average dyspeptic citizen or pundit. The story he tells is full of irony as well as mendacity: he provides an excellent explanation of how the primary system, originally intended as a reform to empower ordinary people, has in fact made the nomination process more beholden to big money. Among the many reforms Witcover advocates is abolition of the electoral college. His most radical suggestion, borrowed from John Deardorff (one of many professionals whose effects on the system Witcover laments, but whose insight he rightly values), is to ban paid TV advertising after the conventions, the rationale being that the candidates are well known by then and the only purpose ads serve is to smear an opponent. Witcover, citing public apathy in a time of prosperity, is not optimistic that meaningful reform will occur anytime soon. In an ideal world, his sophisticated analysis and creative proposals would be enough to make a dent in that apathy. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T) (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374223033
• ISBN-13: 978-0374223038
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,054,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jules Witcover is one of the most distinguished and recognized of the veteran Washington correspondents. A former political columnist for the Baltimore Sun, he is the author of numerous books, including 85 Days: The Last Campaign of Robert Kennedy, Very Strange Bedfellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, The Party of the People: A History of the Democrats, and The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Way To Pick A President, December 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: No Way to Pick a President (Hardcover)

I enjoyed reading this book. It rates high because it is timely and actually gives a plan to cut back on the tremendous waste of time and money in our system of choosing a President. Strong medicine sweetned with wit and style. Worth reading.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Plea for a Return to Pleasantries, February 24, 2001

By 

Bunny A. Goodjohn "Bunny" (Rustburg, Virginia.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Way to Pick a President (Hardcover)

In his 1999 book entitled No Way to Pick a President, Jules Witcover barely disguises his disgust at the downward direction in which American politics appears to be spiralling. Whist he levels his attacks at most aspects of the American political scene, his main vitriol is saved for what he calls "money and hired guns"--the soft money and professional political campaign managers that are now required to secure that seat on the Hill. Witcover, a journalist and columnist of some fifty years, is able to bring much to the table when discussing politics.

Cutting his political teeth while reporting Eisenhower's presidential campaign, he has witnessed the business of politics transforming itself into what he regards as some kind of corrupting chimera. He laments that the days of off the record chats with presidential candidates are well and truly over. He cites the long lens camera, the ferreting into ancient police reports and general dirt digging as rules of the presidential game. Adding insult to political injury, all this is overseen and orchestrated by highly paid, self-seeking professional campaign managers whose eyes are more on how a victory would look on their company's sales literature, than how their employer would fare as president of the United States of America. Witcover seems to feel that presidential campaigns have been transformed into a presidential war game with all runners engaged in long drawn out trench warfare and mud slinging. And he may well be right.

Witcover's book was definitely informative, but perhaps it was the strangeness of the 2000 presidency that makes one question the book's usefulness in explaining current politics. Accusations of misuse of both soft and hard money did abound at the start of the campaign, and candidates were obviously groomed by consultants in matters ranging from "earth tones" to the most effective way to wave their hands. However, these matters did not appear to be the core issues one read about or listen to people discussing. Distrust of motives, candidates' insufficient experience, speech impediments, and accusations of dishonesty by association; these were the concerns in a campaign conducted in an issues desert. In the book's defense, Witcover does provide useful historical facts, which in part explain the progression of politics since the days of Washington. However, a valid viewpoint may be that what is occurring today is merely a natural progression in the government of a modern society, not a degradation of politics or politicians. The Wordsmyth Education Thesaurus defines politics as "the use of strategic maneuvering within a group to obtain power or control", and this is exactly what has occurred during this and recent campaigns. The difference today is that politicians use every modern media weapon at their disposal to achieve that power or control. Mr. Witcover may well just have to accept that times have changed since the days he shared a beer with Kennedy in the back of the campaign bus. Not only has the price of beer risen since then, but so has the cost, financial, moral and personal, of running for President.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witcover as Psychic?, January 17, 2002

By 

William Hare (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Way to Pick a President (Hardcover)

There has been much debate about the propriety of retaining the Electoral College, designed by the Constitution's framers, in the wake of the controversial 2000 presidential election, in which Albert Gore won the popular vote but George Bush, following the Florida recount controversy, emerged as winner by obtaining more electoral votes.

Since Jules Witcover's "No Way to Pick a President" came out before the 2000 election, and devoted much attention to the subject of the Electoral College and why it should be abolished, was the author a psychic? The answer is that he did not need to possess psychic powers to see the importance of the topic. He had a long background of political professionalism and has seen our system deteriorating for some time. As well as covering the topic of the Electoral College, Witcover devotes much time and attention to the evolution of what it has become. He is highly critical of a system increasingly taken over by public relations and advertising pundits offering snappy one-liners and spin control at the distinct sacrifice of broad discussion of the major issues confronting America domestically and internationally. Witcover cites the diminishing numbers of voters who cast ballots in presidential elections, along with the complaints of citizens indicating how turned off they have become with the system.

Witcover scrutinizes the role of the political consultant in the system, giving a historical analysis of the phenomenon, its roots, and where it has taken us. He cites the success record of pioneers in the field, the team of Spencer and Roberts in California. Witcover explains how they conscientiously boosted the image of former motion picture actor Ronald Reagan, carefully cultivating a positive image that took him initially to the governorship in California, then the presidency.

The author, a veteran of many presidential campaigns,provides both an overall perspective and possible reforms to make the system more wieldy and palatable to voters. Witcover has co-authored several books with Jack Germond about presidential campaigns they have jointly covered.