Two recent insider accounts of the 2008 presidential race deliver remarkably similar messages to future aspirants.
“Game Change,” by political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, and “The Audacity to Win,” by President Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe, can be read as a series of lessons and warnings for presidential candidates, their staffs and even for voters.
First, for campaign staff: Embrace the fact that you will nearly always be working for insane people. In “Game Change,” it quickly becomes clear that nearly every candidate, successful or not, displays behavioral traits that would be viewed as pathological in nearly every other field. This is not only encouraged in politics, it is nearly required. The strange combination of oblivious selfishness and desperate neediness that most political candidates share is similar to that of reality television contestants, and creates similar drama.
Remember that a candidate’s family will almost always be a problem. Spouses and mistresses get all the scrutiny, but brothers, sisters, and children can cause problems as well.
It’s difficult enough for one person in a family to live the kind of life that avoids the appearance of impropriety or insanity long enough to launch a political career, and it’s nearly impossible for everyone in a family to do so. And even where a candidate’s family never becomes a public problem, there will be private meltdowns. These will involve staff, as peacemakers, and as pacifiers.
Never become part of the story. Ask John Edwards’ married staffer, Andrew Young, who ended up being blamed for Edwards’ love child. And if you get asked to cover for your boss’s extramarital affair, just tell him no.
For candidates: Create a levelheaded atmosphere. If you’re not the calmest person in the room during a crisis, no one will be. This was one of the strengths of Obama’s campaign, as Plouffe’s book makes clear. Remember that staffers are paid to freak out. You’re not.
Don’t forget that for most voters, the world outside your campaign is far more vivid and interesting than your campaign. Try to keep up with pop culture, if only so you can slip a sports or movie joke into a speech every now and then. Don’t assume that everyone’s read your hard-hitting press release, or that everyone who has cares.
Enjoy the simple things. If you can’t find humor in the small catastrophes and endless tedium of life on the road, you’ll snap, and usually at the worst possible time.
For observers: Learn to think of political campaigns as elaborate advertising campaigns, centered around slightly insane but well-meaning people.
Once you’ve done that, think of campaigns as an opportunity to select for sanity, especially in primaries. Look at candidates’ families. Watch how candidates interact with the real world. Try to imagine them in your classroom. Where two candidates are similar on the issues, choose the calmer one.
Then, if you’re a sane, intelligent, capable, balanced person, think about running for office someday. Politics needs you.
Reach Will at wmunsil@asu.edu