50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page i POLITICS 50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page ii 50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page iii POLITICS Observations & Arguments 1966-2004 HENDRIK HERTZBERG THE PENGUIN PRESS NEW YORK 2004 THE PENGUIN PRESS a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 Copyright © Hendrik Hertzberg, 2004 Preface copyright © David Remnick, 2004 All rights reserved Selections first published in The New Yorker (with the exception of “Everywhere’s Somewhere,” “Scaling Mt. Kennedy,” “Can You Forgive Him?,” “Topless Tabloids of Gotham,” “GeorgeWithout Tears,” “Letter from New Hampshire: This Must Be the Place,” “Framed Up,” and “Upset Victory”) are reprinted with permission of Condé Nast Publications Inc. Copyright © 1973, 1975, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Condé Nast Publications Inc. All rights reserved. Selections first published in The New Republic are reprinted with permission of The New Republic. Copyright © 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992 The New Republic, LLC. “The San Francisco Sound,” the basis for an article in Newsweek, October 28, 1966, is used by permission of Newsweek. All rights reserved. Excerpt from “The Ballad of New York City/John Lennon Yoko Ono” by David Peel. Reprinted by permission of David Peel. “American Skin (41 Shots)” by Bruce Springsteen. Copyright © 2000 Bruce Springsteen. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hertzberg, Hendrik. Politics: observations & arguments, 1966–2004/Hendrik Hertzberg. p. cm. Includes index. AEB ISBN 0 7865 5364 2 Printed in the United States of America Designed by Mary Sarah Quinn Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability. www.penguin.com 50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page v For Virginia Cannon 50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page vi 50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page vii CONTENTS  Introduction:by David Remnick  Author’s Note 1.ENOUGH ABOUT THE SIXTIES  The San Francisco Sound New music,new subculture  Weather Report:White Tornado Lunacy on the Left  Everywhere’s Somewhere John and Yoko come to New York  Why the War Was Immoral Looking back at Vietnam and anti-Vietnam  You Had to Be There What Woodstock was “like” 2.BIG MEN  A Moral Ideologue The character ofJimmy Carter  The Child Monarch Ronald Reagan’s surprising presidency  Scaling Mt.Kennedy R.F.K.’s journey from fixer to martyrdom 50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page viii viii  3.SPEECHIFYIN’  In Praise of Judson Welliver Judson who?  Wascally Woss Perot’s favorite fuzzy animal  Speeding Ticket Cicero goes Geraldo  Two Speeches J.F.K.’s Inaugural and Clinton’s  Big Talk It’s about addressing the mainstream  Star-Spangled Banter Can we please have a better national anthem?  Talking Points Behind the lines with Peggy Noonan  The Word from W. A shockingly good Inaugural Address  Grinding Axis The rhetorical uses ofevil 4.JUDEO-CHRISTIANS  Antidisestablishmentarianism A Jaycee protests  Vatican’t Instructions from Rome and Alabama  Secular Sermon The stakes in the Rushdie affair 50873-fm 11/15/04 10:25 AM Page ix  ix  Two Little Words One nation under God (stet)  Dividends Bush’s preferential option for the rich 5.A CAMPAIGN   Sluicegate ’ The journalistic stoning ofGary Hart  Sporting News Tarred by the Miami Herald’s brush  G.O.P.Follies The Republicans debate  Tuesday Night Patball Republicans and Democrats,starring Tom Brokaw  Monster from the Id Politics as psychotherapy,from Gary Hart  First Returns Good morning,Iowa  Dole’s Charm His masks ofcomedy and tragedy  The Father,the Son,and the Holy Politician Pat Robertson’s Oedipus complex  The Tortoise Dukakis’s slow,sure bid for the nomination  Ivy Scoreboard Which is more elitist,Harvard or Yale?  Dynasties Old and New Scenes from the Democratic Convention