Comments on: The Painted (White) House

By: LP

LP — Wed, 16 May 2007 21:02:06 +0000

Amy-

Same thing I was getting at. And, it’s not a matter of whether you read Harry Potter, it’s a question of whether that’s the best answer when somebody asks a potential candidate for US President what books they’ve read lately.

By: Amy Phillips

Amy Phillips — Wed, 16 May 2007 20:33:43 +0000

You’re assuming that the American people want gravitas in a presidential candidate. If the last 8 years have shown us anything, it’s that a lot of Americans want a president who is a “regular guy.” I bet that some of these candidates have read many very impressive books, but their strategists told them to prepare some answers that were more “relatable.” And that means John Grisham.

And frankly, you’re not one to talk. You read Harry Potter.

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:55:16 +0000

I’m more troubled byuthe fact that Hillary Clinton doesn’t know the meaning of the word “fiction.” As far as I know, Abraham Lincoln was a real person and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book about him was non-fiction (perhaps not original non-fiction, given the source, but non-fiction all the same)

By: Eric Hanneken

Eric Hanneken — Tue, 15 May 2007 20:02:05 +0000

John McCain is reading A Farewell to Arms? Good for him. I read that just last month, after Good-Bye to All That. Maybe it will moderate his enthusiasm for war.

By: LP

LP — Tue, 15 May 2007 20:01:25 +0000

Except that AP English kinds of answers are easily recognizable as strategic — they’re the kind of answers most people give at a job interview to this question. So this might be second-order strategy — “these must be honest answers, because if they were going to make something up, they’d make up something more prestigious.” Of course, the underlying premise here is that people want their presidents to be basically just like them, only more charismatic. If this isn’t true, then the ‘NYT bestseller list’ strategy is no good anyway.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 15 May 2007 19:56:54 +0000

Well McCain is reading a classic.

By: Julian Sanchez

Julian Sanchez — Tue, 15 May 2007 19:01:44 +0000

I dunno, assuming these are strategic answers, there’s surely a huge body of AP English sort of classic novels or popular policy tomes or biographies that would’ve both been familiar and conveyed sufficient gravitas.

By: LP

LP — Tue, 15 May 2007 18:54:04 +0000

I dunno — I do this, too, when somebody I need to impress (like at a job interview) asks me what I’ve been reading. I think back over the books I’ve read recently, and select a couple of titles that will be at least a little familiar to the asker. Naming a more esoteric work will get you pegged as someone who reads weird things and is probably out of touch with the mainstream, and the person asking will feel stupid for not knowing the book (and probably feel, deep inside, that you’re trying to make him look bad). These are both bad outcomes if you’re trying to get a job, or get elected.