Politics Lost: From RFK to W: How Politicians Have Become Less Courageous and More Interested in Keeping Power than in Doing What's Right for America (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The people castigated in this lively but self-contradictory jeremiad make up the "pollster-consultant industrial complex" of political handlers responsible for today's bland, prefabricated candidates, carefully stage-managed campaigns and vacuous, focus-grouped policy proposals. Political reporter and Time pundit Klein (Primary Colors) traces the political consultants' influence through pungent insider accounts of presidential campaigns from 1968 to the present, throwing in plenty of his own armchair quarterbacking of triumphs and fiascoes. Throughout, he deplores the deadening of American political culture and celebrates the few politicians, like Ronald Reagan and John McCain, who occasionally slip the consultant's leash, blurt out an unfashionable opinion, take a principled stand or otherwise demonstrate their unvarnished humanity. Unfortunately, Klein's politics of personal authenticity—he longs for a candidate "who gets angry, within reason; gets weepy, within reason... but only if these emotions are rare and real"—seems indistinguishable from the image-driven, style-over-substance politics he decries; he just wishes the imagery and style were more colorful and compelling. Moreover, Klein's insistence that the electorate cares much more about the sincerity or "phoniness" of a politician's character than about policy issues puts him squarely in the camp of people who think voters are stupid. (Apr. 18)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The Washington Post

It is no exaggeration to say that Politics Lost represents the culmination of Joe Klein's life work. It spans every presidential campaign he has covered. It draws on sources nurtured over his three decades as one of the country's leading political reporters. And its topic has clearly obsessed him for a very long time: Why is American politics no longer fun?

The quirkiness of that question gives this book its charm. Klein takes pains not to be aridly high-minded, not to come across as a killjoy scold. Of course, he'd like American democracy to tackle big problems and offer brave answers. But he approaches politics less as an embittered crusader than as a disappointed fan. What he wants, above all, is for it to be more spontaneous, more authentic, more human.

In explaining how those qualities were lost, Klein -- the anonymous author of Primary Colors, now a Time magazine columnist -- provides a highly entertaining tour of how political consultants progressively hijacked the presidential campaigns of the last 40 years. In a pundit-dominated culture strikingly devoid of historical memory -- where many commentators barely know why Michael Dukakis lost, let alone why Hubert Humphrey did -- Klein's granular understanding of the political culture of the 1970s and '80s is unusual and impressive. His description of Patrick H. Caddell -- the tortured genius who began polling for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign while still in college, dominated Democratic politics in the Carter years and grew so disgusted with the kind of campaigns he had helped invent that he committed professional suicide in the 1980s -- is both a model of historical excavation and a crucial backdrop for understanding operatives such as Bob Shrum and Karl Rove, who oversee our often tawdry, brain-dead politics today.

Another great strength of Politics Lost is that, whether by accident or design, it models the kind of political discourse Klein would like to see. Against the neutered, white-washed language that dominates contemporary American political life, Klein counterposes his own edgy, raw and often hilarious rhetorical style. Again and again, he uncorks one-liners so good that the reader stops to savor. Carter was "as serious as cancer and as colorful as cement." "The 1970s were the 1960s for nerds." Dukakis "hailed from the National Public Radio wing of his party." In their obsession with the minutiae of environmental policy, Democrats "had trouble seeing the forest for the tree huggers."

Better yet, in contrast to the antiseptic, cookie-cutter campaigns he mocks, Klein's writing is intensely personal. He is frank about his own biases and changes of heart, as well as his hunger to enjoy politics again. And if at times the book borders on self-indulgent -- with Klein quoting Klein -- its personal quality also makes it appealing. Klein criticizes savagely, but not from detached, Olympian heights. Instead, he portrays himself as yet another disillusioned baby boomer, seeking -- along with such generational contemporaries as Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John F. Kerry -- to understand what happened to the excitement and idealism of their '60s youth.

Politics Lost is tougher on Democrats than Republicans, and for good reason. As Klein shows, political consultants are at their most debilitating when the politicians they serve lack the courage of their convictions. And in recent years, it is Democrats who have been more ideologically insecure. In 1976, Klein writes, Ronald Reagan hired a fancy consultant named John Sears, whom he didn't know and who didn't share his right-wing instincts. But when he ran for president again in 1980, Reagan fired Sears, trusting his long-time confidantes -- and his own gut -- when it mattered most. By contrast, Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004 lacked the self-confidence to fire the consultants who kept them from saying what they really believed. Gore, a passionate environmentalist, wanted to talk about global warming. But when he did, he was sabotaged by his own advisers, who forced him back to poll-tested standbys like Social Security and prescription drugs -- and, in the process, turned him into a robot. Kerry's anti-Vietnam activism went to the core of his political soul. But high-priced consultants such as Bob Shrum considered the subject too risky to mention. So Kerry didn't tell Americans about this crucial aspect of his political and moral development and left the Swift Boat Veterans -- who smeared the decorated vet as an America-hating traitor -- to do it instead.

Klein rightly flays Gore and Kerry for not being true to themselves. But he is also harshly critical of the old liberal orthodoxies that Democratic political consultants devote so much time to camouflaging. All of which raises a large and difficult question that he never quite answers: How can contemporary Democratic candidates be personally secure in their beliefs when their party is not? Even if Democrats could liberate themselves from the intellectually and morally stifling grip of consultants like Shrum, would they have any coherent ideology to espouse?

The coming years may well provide an answer. Particularly in the Democratic Party, the revolt against the consultants is in full flower. The party's Web-savvy, activist base loathes the caution and phoniness that has characterized recent Democratic campaigns. And as that base proves able to deliver money as well as votes, future presidential candidates will be increasingly tempted to ditch focus-group mush-speak and talk from the heart. Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) is clearly pursuing that strategy; former North Carolina senator John Edwards vows that he will too, and in the greatest irony of all, a newly unplugged Al Gore might even do so as well. It is a good bet that whoever emerges as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's main challenger in the 2008 primaries will emulate Sen. John McCain's campaign in 2000 and Howard Dean's in 2004. So on the Democratic side, at least, Klein may get his wish: Politics will become more blunt, more free-wheeling, more fun. Whether authenticity leads to victory, however, is less certain. Democrats may be learning to speak from the heart. But in a party that has been confused about its core beliefs for almost four decades, no one can be entirely sure how that will sound.

Reviewed by Peter Beinart
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (June 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767916018
• ISBN-13: 978-0767916011
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #333,484 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pages of Notes on This Book--Other Reviews Largely Worthless, May 31, 2006

By	Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You're Stupid (Hardcover)

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 as their elected or appointed representatives.

As a side note, the author documents the very early and heavy engagement of Saudi Arabia in sponsoring sophisticated and sustained polling of American views and concerns. It can be safely suggested that the Saudi Royal Family has funded sufficient polling to know America as well, or better, than most US politicians.

The author believes that the Reagan era killed concepts of civic duty and long term strategic sacrifice, and that a climate of intellectual cowardice and political correctness led to a shutting out of those who would speak plainly or serioiusly.

John Kerry is slammed as a banana peel politician who uses slippery words, Dick Morris is slammed as a charlatan, the Republicans are slammed for slease, anti-society, pro-market (that is to say, pro-already wealthy Wall Street), and for having no policy process (something moderate Republican and former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill supports in the book PRICE OF LOYALTY). The author slams Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks as delusional and unprofessional. As the recent chorus of generals including General Tony Zinni might suggest, the author is probably on solid ground with this assessment.

On a nuanced note, the author considers Shrum to be off-base in advising Senator Edwards to focus on class warfare, as he finds that this mantra is not effective with either the bi-partisan "common guy" or the social conservative "leave me alone" group. Everything I read in this book confirmed my view that the next congressional election needs to be about personal integrity and indepedence and authenticity, and the next presidential election needs to be about electoral reform--about re-engaging and honoring the votes of every citizen, and keeping those who are elected honest after the fact of election.

I may have read a different book than that which has been so demeaned by the other reviewers to date, but I can certainly say that I did read every word of this book, and I found the author to be thoughtful, authentic, and worth every minute that I spent absorbing his views.

Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of American Democracy
Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life
Escaping the Matrix: How We the People can change the world
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (Bk Currents)
The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love
The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics
THE SMART NATION ACT: Public Intelligence in the Public Interest

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting, personal glimpse into politics as an insider sees it, October 4, 2006

By	Edward Durney (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You're Stupid (Hardcover)

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.

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Melodrama of the Mediocre Pundit, August 21, 2006

By	doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You're Stupid (Hardcover)

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~]