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 Recent commentary from National Journal: Legal Affairs: Do African-Americans Really Want Racial Preferences? (December 24, 2002) Racial preferences pin a badge of inferiority on every black and every Hispanic student. By Stuart Taylor Jr.. Political Pulse: Let the 'Invisible Primary' Begin (December 24, 2002) Gore's decision not to run means the race for money and poll position is wide open. By William Schneider. Media: The Corrections (December 17, 2002) The once-genteel media world has become a place where somebody is always waiting to pounce on your errors. By William Powers. Political Pulse: Needed: A Tough, Credible Alternative (December 17, 2002) Kerry could benefit in 2004 if the Democratic Party learns the right lesson from Landrieu's triumph. By William Schneider. Legal Affairs: Cheney's Win Over the GAO Threatens Congressional Oversight (December 17, 2002) The ruling is broader than necessary to protect the president's ability to receive candid and confidential advice. By Stuart Taylor Jr. More from National Journal. |
Media 
Goodwill LackingDole's sense of humor and his heroism kept political and media feelings warm by William Powers ..... As Trent Lott turned on the spit and everyone waited for him to be done, the media chatter ran to what a marvelous event this had been and, gosh, why didn't we think of it earlier? "Why did it take so long for most major newspapers and networks to jump on the controversy, even after it was reported?" asked CNN's Howard Kurtz. "The way this story sat around for several days last week before the politicians turned their blood up to boil is ... a bit suspicious," wrote Michael Kinsley in Time. Why the Lott story took off so slowly is a good question. But just as good, and in some ways more intriguing, is the opposite question of why this story took off at all, and once it did, why it had such staying power. After all, Lott is not the first national political figure to say or do something that most people found deeply wrong. In a television interview just last year, Sen. Robert C. Byrd twice used the phrase "white niggers." But when Byrd apologized, the story went away. There are countless other examples of pols who spoke or behaved offensively, performed some act of contrition, and returned to business as usual. Why do some transgressors become such pariahs that they are driven out of public life (think Jim Wright, Bob Packwood), while others not only survive their ignominy but go on to prosper (Bill Clinton)? Every scandal is different, of course, and the rules of the game change over time. It's hard to imagine Ted Kennedy, or any other national figure, surviving a Chappaquiddick-like incident today. But there is one factor that plays a huge role in all these stories, and yet it has been scarcely mentioned in the last few weeks: goodwill. I mean that free-floating sense of generosity and tolerance that allows us to excuse errors, often very grievous ones, made by certain public figures. Over time, as they emerge into public consciousness, some pols manage to build up major stores of this stuff, and it keeps them afloat in a time of scandal. Others accrue little or no goodwill, and when these unfortunate souls get in trouble, they sink like a stone. Based on the events of the last week, we can safely place Lott among the goodwill-deficient. It's true his story took several days to get traction, but once it did, it soon became clear that very few people in politics or the media had warm feelings of any kind about the Senate majority leader. If goodwill were a bank account, Lott had a shockingly low balance, especially for someone who has been in public life for so long and risen so high. Why? Goodwill is abstract and elusive. Sometimes you don't even realize someone has it until the person gets in trouble and you find yourself in a forgiving mood. But there are certain identifiable personal traits that greatly increase a politician's chances of building goodwill, and this week seems a good time to note a few of them: 1. Heroism. Combat veterans are magnets for goodwill, and authentic war heroes are off the charts. Quick, which of the "Keating Five" not only put that nasty little scandal behind him but went on to become a political rock star and presidential contender? Answer: John McCain, the former POW. Earlier this year, there was a brief media frenzy over revelations about former Sen. Bob Kerrey's role in a massacre of civilians in wartime Vietnam. Today, Kerrey remains an elder statesman, frequently appearing on TV and occasionally mentioned as presidential material. But then, he also won the Medal of Honor in Vietnam, and lost part of a leg. Goodwill doesn't get any richer. 2. Principles. Most politicians are wind socks, but the few who are not, those who appear to stand by their convictions come what may, build massive reserves of goodwill. Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan were both in this category. So was Paul Wellstone. It's hard to think of many current members of Congress who have joined these avatars of principle. Though Lott's tribute to Sen. Strom Thurmond suggested he had held fast to certain longtime beliefs, they were repugnant beliefs, and thus didn't qualify. 3. Durability. There's a kind of goodwill that comes from having survived a difficult challenge, or having just hung in there. Anyone who has run for president gets goodwill points for trying. Seasoned scandal veterans like Hillary Clinton often receive grudging respect, and a little goodwill, merely for having toughed out their scandals. After he resigned in disgrace, Richard Nixon built up a strange kind of goodwill for sticking with the statesman shtick and maintaining a semblance of personal dignity. This is survivor's goodwill. Ancient members of Congress, such as Byrd and Thurmond, get enormous goodwill from their sheer durability, and can say or do almost anything and get away with it. 4. Charm. We cut certain pols a lot of slack because they make the public arena more humane and fun. Bob Dole's dark sense of humor turned him into a kind of folk hero, a favorite on the late-night talk shows. Thanks to this, and his war injury, he might well have survived an incident of Lottesque proportions, had it happened to him. Dan Rostenkowski's enormous personality didn't keep him out of prison (goodwill is not all-powerful), but it's the reason "Rosty" persists warmly in Washington's memory. None of the above ever seemed to apply to Trent Lott. He rose without acquiring any appreciable goodwill among his colleagues, the media, or the public at large. And there was nothing to cushion his fall.
What do you think? Discuss this article in the Politics & Society conference of Post & Riposte. More from National Journal. More on politics and society in Atlantic Unbound and The Atlantic Monthly. William Powers is media columnist for National Journal. He recently spent three months in Japan as a Japan Society Fellow, studying the role of reading in Japanese life. This column appears every week in National Journal, a weekly magazine covering politics and government published in Washington, D.C. For information on National Journal Group publications, see NationalJournal.com. Copyright © 2002 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved. | [an error occurred while processing this directive] | ||
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