***
Six weeks on the New York Times’ Best Seller’s list and still going strong.
``This Town’’ Mark Leibovich’s brilliantly written poke-in-the-eye treatise, concerning the shameless sect of self-promoters and nattering nabobs of narcissism that inhabit the nation’s capital is arguably the best read of the summer.
And for those Beltway narcissists, hoping to pick up the best-seller for no other reason than to see IF and WHERE they were referred to in the 368 pages of text-they’ll be sorely disappointed to learn-there’s no index. Imagine, having to read the entire book to discover if you were mentioned, whether you sustained heavy damage, or were thankfully spared the ravages of Hurricane Leibovich. Come to think of it, maybe this prize-winning American journalist and author is on to something that others will duplicate.
Mr. Leibovich, chief national correspondent for The New York Times’ Magazine, based in Washington, D.C., isn’t shy about skewering the high and mighty in his broad sweep of the nation’s capital: not the host of NBC’s Meet the Press, David Gregory, as his ratings continue to plunge, not Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball, who Leibovich describes as a representative of a`` loosely credentialed self-interested performers whose primary job is remaining on TV’’; and certainly not Arianna Huffington, co-founder of the Huffington Post and empress of the blogosphere (and screaming headlines) who launched an online bellum sacrum (Holy War!) against Tim Russert before his untimely death in June, 2008. Not even the invincible Clinton’s were spared. ``The Clinton’s are pros at death and sickness’’ Leibovich writes, implying, of course, that Bill and Hill have a Ph.D. in death and dying, especially when they’re under the klieg lights.
The only time Leibovich seems to pull his punches is when it comes to his own employer, The New York Times; as if somehow they're above it all. Aren’t they schmoozing with Obama‘s power brokers like the rest of the ``media industrial complex’’ he scorns? Why is it that a vast majority of Times’ staffers somehow only land on round table discussions when they have something to promote; how about the self-aggrandizing tweets (informing their followers when they’re about to appear on a news cable program), along with Times blatant smugness in being above having to display reporters company emails to its over 20 million loyal online readers?
Wasting little time, Leibovich discharges a spray of bullets in the Prologue, when discussing the funeral of the mayor of D.C.’s power elite, Tim Russert, the rosy-cheeked leprechaun and host of the number one rated Sunday news program, Meet the Press, who died from a sudden cardiac arrest on June 13, 2008. He was 58.
The funeral for the wildly popular and titular head of ``The Club’’ was attended by anyone who was anybody in Washington: from the titans of Capitol Hill to seemingly any political reporter with a Twitter account. Leibovich describes in shocking detail how mourners stormed Washington's National Cathedral not so much to grieve the heartbreaking loss of Washington’s most esteemed journalist; but to hobnob with the powerful, jockeying to ``outgrieve each other’’, while others shamelessly stuffed business cards into the hands of Joe Scarborough, host of the influential weekday morning talk show, ``Morning Joe’’ on MSNBC.
Such a revolting backdrop encapsulated Washington at its very worst; and set the tone for what was to come.
Raging like a wildfire through ``This Town’’ is the clubbiness, celebritizing, and narcissistic culture of the entrenched beltway social order; what’s most important is getting your name mentioned on Politico Mike Allen’s daily ``Playbook’’ , either by acknowledging your birthday or reporting who was spotted at some frivolous wine and cheese party among the chattering classes of Washington’s elite. Only the most privileged club members are worthy of a complimentary hat tip (h/t) by Allen when alerting him of a notable birthday.
Leibovich chronicles just how little regard editors of Politico have for those outside the beltway or restricted members to ``The Club’’, as was the case when Alexander Burns (at the urging of editor John Harris) wrote a piece (March 13, 2012) about voters being stupid. Implicit in the item: you have to be a member of ``The Club’’ in order to understand the most compelling issues facing the country. With such unabashed bluster and contempt for the average voter by a mostly white, male, 40-something news organization-one wonders if Groucho Marx were around today as a credentialed White House correspondent, if he would have told John Harris in a webcast of his own: ``Thanks! but I do not care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.’’
Though Leibovich’s frequent rants against Washington’s media elite is fun and highly entertaining, (definitely a must read for anyone who hasn’t yet cracked its covers), there’s a much larger and sharper component of ``This Town’’ which concerns how people used to come to Washington to serve in the public interest-and after their tour of duty was completed-they would simply recede deep into the night, rarely to be heard from again.
Not so anymore.
Over the last decade, maybe longer, Washington has manufactured a cottage industry of shrewd political consultants, political media analysts, highly paid lobbyists, a magical mystery tour of speaking engagements (charging astronomical fees), and inking lucrative book deals, mostly by former members of Congress or members of past administrations. Remaining in Washington to shop your wares to the highest bidder seems to be the only game in town these days. As Leibovich aptly puts it: `` Washington-like high school-used to be a transient culture. People would expect to graduate eventually or drop out. But almost no one leaves here anymore.''
Robert Gibbs, the former press secretary to President Obama, having accumulated about $2 million in speaking fees since leaving his post in 2011, and former Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott who has amassed a handsome fortune of his own as a Washington-based lobbyist, are just two prime examples of how greed and glitz are the new norm for former public servants.
The most stinging indictment, persuasively advanced by Leibovich, of the corrupting influence of the Washington elite on its inhabitants surrounds the disappointing transformation of Barack Obama, who came to the White House, after all, promoting himself as an agent of change (Recall: ``Change we can believe in" and the chant "Yes We Can!’’) but in the end, as Gibbs once said in a White House staff meeting: ``Somehow we have all changed….or maybe Washington just changed us.’’
***
With my curiosity piqued over just how well Leibovich’s best-seller is being received among his Washington contemporaries, I thought I would reach out to see if any would like to offer their reactions to the book.
Here, then, are some responses which came back:
• ``I read it, found it largely accurate but too snarky for my tastes, in fact tasteless in a few places. I wondered what party did he not get invited to that made him this angry.''
-Charlie Cook, political analyst for the National Journal who additionally writes election forecasts and rankings in The Cook Political Report.
• ``I thought it was very good and did capture Washington perfectly.''
-Sally Quinn, American author and journalist, who writes about religion for a blog at The Washington Post. Quinn is married to Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Post from 1968 to 1991 and currently its vice president at-large.
• ``I'm only halfway through, but so far it's delightful. It's well reported. His observations are largely spot on. And his writing is fiendishly clever.''
-Steve Thomma, politics editor for McClatchy Newspapers.
• ``I thought it was an entertaining read ... although I have a less-cynical view of Washington generally.''
-Jonathan Karl, Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News.
***
Bill Lucey
[email protected]
September 2, 2013
One does not need an index to search on any term in electronic editions.
Posted by: Andy Koppel | 09/03/2013 at 10:19 AM