Fra: Simon Laub Emne: Joe Kleins the Running Mate - is that really a story about a hero ? Dato: 6. august 2000 23:25 Thoughts after reading the Running Mate by Joe Klein. ------------------------------------------------------ - Is that really a story about a hero in American politics ? - - - I loved the portrait of a charming, ambitious, amoral young Southerner - Jack Stanton AKA Bill Clinton -, on his way to the White House - as given by Joe Klein in "Primary Colors". So I obviously bought "the Running Mate": Here we follow US.Senator Charlie Martin, a John McCain-like Vietnam war hero. A honest man - so naturally he loses the presidential nomination to the incumbent, Jack Stanton - As politics isn't about policies, it's about artful Machiavellian maneuvers, backstabbing, and feeding scandals to the press. So far, so good - Joe Kleins hero is a democrat, so what are the values that is lost when "our" hero loses (to a political opponent - Republican - who has no scruples) ? I don't really think the "Running Mate" tells us, but of course we know - it is those liberal values your High School teacher loved ??? A) Human worth is intrinsic and doesn't depend on success or power. B) All human conflict and striefe between human beings can be ended whether by political revolution, social change or better education. C) All inequalities are due to discrimination, prejudice, oppression or social conditioning. D) You should stand by the traditional values of the left by being on the side of the weak, poor and oppressed. ??? Obviously the slime Jack Stanton (AKA Bill Clinton) did terrible things to this agenda by totally confusing what it is all about (drowning it in slime). So now we have a hero, Charlie Martin, who should be able to fight for the cause. He is supposedly honest and "good" - and his opponents are not. Whether they are Comcon - compassionate conservatives, who preach that abortion is murder, while their own wifes have them performed quietly - or they are democrats like scumbag Jack Stanton - it doesn't really matter - they are all scum in this universe. - And it is a delight to read about :-) But as Joe Klein doesn't really tell all that much about "our" heroes political agenda (I assume it to be as stated above) - I somehow come to think that our hero senator might have these values, but it doesn't really mean that damn much to him. - And then, in my book, he must be a scumbag as well. Even though I don't agree with such a traditional left world view - I can respect if it is "felt" deeply. I can't respect it, if is only kind of half thought through and taken on because it makes for a good career (Jack Stanton like) - and perhaps because it gives you an alibi as a human. But, to Joe Klein senator Martin is a hero. When his opponents runs "oppo" on him by placing leaflets like : Charlie Martins funny family: The facts -His girlfriend lives with another man. -He has an illegitimate son -He molested a campaign worker in 1992. -His press secretary is a homosexual and has aids. -Even his father is living in sin. What is about morality tha Senator Martin doesn't understand? A message from the messengers. We, the readers, are told the inside story to this and is appaled that the opponent can do a thing like that. And tired about this a part of political life - somehow we are already betting with ourselfes on what the scandals are going to be in the nonfictional presidential campaign of 2000, Bush vs. Gore -- Still does it really make senator Martin a hero to suffer attacks of this kind ? To loose to an opponent who uses such tactics ? Does it make the senator a hero that he finally cares about his family and plans to gets married (BTW. is that why the book is called running mate ?) ??? Ok, it makes a hero to overcome trouble, But in politics you should also be about something. And somehow senator Martin seems as forlorn as his opponents to me. I am not entirely convinced that he is now a devoted husband or that he really has some solid ideas about where the world should be headed. If Joe Klein intended for me, the reader, to have these feelings - then it is really once again a brilliant book :-) But somehow I think he liked this Charlie Martin guy perhaps a little to much :-) Maybe Charlie Martin simply got derailed by his own confusion - that is not hero stuff ? is it ? -Simon