Blog P.I.

The left is having a field day so far this morning with a New York Times opinion piece by Mark Halperin, onetime leader of the ultra-insidery ABC’s The Note and current auteur of Time’s similarly-named The Page. In the piece, Halperin apologizes for treating presidential politics like a horse race, and more or less blames it on Richard Ben Cramer’s famous tome on the 1988 race, “What it Takes.”

Apart from deriving an equivalence between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush that one need not be a member of the leftroots to find inadequate, Halperin dons his finest hairshirt and wails about his years in the wilderness:

For most of my time covering presidential elections, I shared the view that there was a direct correlation between the skills needed to be a great candidate and a great president. The chaotic and demanding requirements of running for president, I felt, were a perfect test for the toughest job in the world.

But now I think I was wrong. The “campaigner equals leader” formula that inspired me and so many others in the news media is flawed.

…

So if we for too long allowed ourselves to be beguiled by “What It Takes” — certainly not the author’s fault — what do those of us who cover politics do now? After all, Mr. Cramer’s style of campaign coverage is alluring in an election season that features so many candidates with heroic biographies and successful careers in and out of politics. (Not to mention two wide-open races.)

Well, we pause, take a deep breath and resist. At least sometimes. In the face of polls and horse-race maneuvering, we can try to keep from getting sucked in by it all. We should examine a candidate’s public record and full life as opposed to his or her campaign performance. But what might appear simple to a voter can, I know, seem hard for a journalist.

It’s not that he’s wrong (although he might be). Rather, it’s that Halperin is not the person to deliver this message. Otherwise, he will have to change his style of reporting, immediately. What are the chances of that? Well, let’s have a look at what The Page looks like today:

That’s what I thought. In fairness, maybe Mr. Halperin hasn’t figured out what comes next. Until he does, “POW!!! BAM!!!! BOP!!!!” it is.