Come on, Politico!!
In general, I like the bulk of Politico’s coverage of campaigns — as someone who’s not a DC insider, I learn a fair amount from their coverage. Every once in a while, however, Politico betrays a worldview that political process is always more important than substance. As someone who appreciates process, there are still limits on this ...
In general, I like the bulk of Politico's coverage of campaigns -- as someone who's not a DC insider, I learn a fair amount from their coverage. Every once in a while, however, Politico betrays a worldview that political process is always more important than substance. As someone who appreciates process, there are still limits on this formulation.
In general, I like the bulk of Politico’s coverage of campaigns — as someone who’s not a DC insider, I learn a fair amount from their coverage. Every once in a while, however, Politico betrays a worldview that political process is always more important than substance. As someone who appreciates process, there are still limits on this formulation.
Exhibit A for this is today’s Jonathan Martin story on What Went Wrong with the Herman Cain Train. This part stood out:
It was in Milwaukee, of course, where Cain struggled to recall his talking point on Libya and served up what’s bound to be one of the campaign’s enduring YouTube moments.
Cain’s unfamiliarity with major foreign policy events can only be partially attributed to his campaign. The underlying problem — that the candidate was even talking to the editors and reporters of a newspaper in a state that doesn’t figure prominently in the nominating process — was the decision of campaign manager Mark Block (emphasis added).
I’d go off on a rant right here, but Jonathan Bernstein has done it for me:
Um, no: the underlying problem is that a candidate for President of the United States doesn’t appear to be willing and/or able to converse about basic foreign policy issues at a level that wouldn’t embarrass a strong high school student. That isn’t Mark Block’s fault.
As I noted before, both Rick Perry and Herman Cain were done in by their own incompetencies — not their staffs. For Politico not to get that is disturbing.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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