Mailer
A young delegate from New York tells the writer, “Politics is property.” And this becomes Mailer’s mantra. In those three words resides the magic that will release the secret of the convention. Those words confirm a system of exchange governed by property holders. Mailer writes, “A delegate’s vote is his holding — he will give it up without return no more than a man will sign over his house entire to a worthy cause.”
When I read those words in Denver, I tried to use them to understand what was happening around me. It occurred to me that Mailer had understood what had been ignored by the pundits on CNN. Like the inhabitants of the great city of Chicago, he hadn’t turned away from the unpleasantness of power and money. And it appeared to me that if he were alive today and reporting from Denver, he would have relished the chance to report on the calculations and compromises that have thrown up Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee. Instead of seeing only a shining symbol of racial achievement, Mailer would not flinch from looking at Obama also as a pure political animal.
My report from Denver with Norman Mailer’s classic reportage as my travel guide. In today’s Hindu.
Also recommended, this review of Mailer by Thomas Frank, that pits the writer against the modern-day pollsters.
Brilliant! Better than Mailer, really!
Comment by Sumana — September 8, 2008 @ 2:36 am
How will you rate VS Naipaul’s 1969 reportage of Norman Mailer’s failed electoral run for the New York mayor’s post? (The article was titled New York with Norman Mailer in The Writer and the World)
And Naipaul’s reportage of the Republican Convention and the Dallas fund raiser?
Comment by sourabh — September 8, 2008 @ 12:50 pm
Agree with you totally. Like to hear about the deep calculations and compromises as well as the local wheeling-and-dealing. None of that bullship like that pablum from the Huffington Post dork in today’s Kumar blog posting (9/9/08).
Comment by Hap — September 10, 2008 @ 1:20 am
Also would like to hear about Naipaul’s convention and campaign reportage, as requested by sourabh above. Perhaps compare with Hunter Thompson’s fear and loathing on the campaign trail? I see a book collection . . .
Comment by Hap — September 10, 2008 @ 1:22 am