Pundits and Presidents

In a column titled, “Make Way for the Radical Center,” New York Timesman Tom Friedman (picture, right) continues his quixotic pursuit of a third party 2012 presidential option. Friedman recommends a third-party effort called “Americans Elect” that will nominate online a presidential ticket it hopes to put on the ballot in all 50 states. The group, Friedman writes, will soon submit 1.6 million signatures supporting its effort to get on California’s ballot, then go after the remaining 49 smaller states. It will later draw up a platform and nominate finalists, all online, with the people who vote online making all decisions.

The political impact of third parties is to deny election to one of the big parties' candidates. John Anderson hurt Jimmy Carter in 1980, Ross Perot hurt George H.W. Bush in 1992, and Ralph Nader hurt Al Gore in the tight 2000 election. So anybody who cares about Obama’s re-election has to be alarmed at Friedman’s third-party advocacy. And for whatever reason, perhaps integrity actually playing a role, Friedman has chosen not to get close to Obama.

I wrote earlier that Charles Krauthammer is the sage to Republicans the way Walter Lippmann and Scotty Reston once were to establishment Democrats. In 1980, a 39-year-old George Will (picture) hosted a dinner for Ronald Reagan, thereby linking the ex-California governor to the Eastern establishment. Will then hosted another dinner just before Reagan’s 1981 inauguration. Will was important to Reagan, who wanted to become familiar with the relatively small group of Republican intellectuals centered in Washington D.C., so Will was in a position to help the future president. In turn, Will clearly benefited from the close relationship he formed with the popular conservative.

The New York Times’ David Brooks (top picture, left) must have aspired to a close and mutually-beleficial relationship with the up-and-coming Barack Obama that would be similar to Will's ties to Reagan. Democrats eager to get close to the new Illinois senator were everywhere, but Brooks the conservative stood out in Obamaland. Brooks offered Obama access to an entirely different slice of the political spectrum.

Brooks, I believe, saw his opening after he became almost physically attracted to Obama when the two first met in 2005. Brooks later said of the meeting, “I remember distinctly an image of—we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at his pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I’m thinking, a) he’s going to be president and b) he’ll be a very good president.” Since then, Brooks has had a difficult time separating himself from the President’s agenda.

Little doubt that George Will, a fellow conservative to Brooks who hardly shares Brooks’ high opinion of the president, took notice of Brooks’ efforts to worm his way into Obama’s inner circle. One can almost see the “perfectly creased pant” image resting in Will’s brain as he wrote of the president yesterday, “Obama [is] a demagogue for an age of smooth surfaces; Huey Long with a better tailor.”