Admittedly, There Are a Lot of Candidates, But…
By After the success of The Crying Game, Miramax marketed a movie called The Advocate with ads asking viewers not to reveal “the client.” This went over like a lead zeppelin in part because the new movie (although, IIRC, it wasn’t terrible) didn’t actually have a “twist.” I was reminded of this by the new anonymous insidery book about a president, which is apparently a homeless man’s Primary Colors. Hence, the marketing will fail because nobody will care who’s written it. But I can’t resist obvious snark, so…Kakutani:
Well, now we know why the author of this much gossiped about, heavily marketed new book wanted to remain anonymous: “O: A Presidential Novel” is a thoroughly lackadaisical performance — trite, implausible and decidedly unfunny.
[…]
O’s hypocrisy and arrogance, along with improbable plot developments, make it hard not to suspect that the author of this novel is a Republican sympathizer — or at the very least someone very disillusioned with President Obama.
We are asked to believe that the Republicans have easily found the ideal candidate to run against President O — a “square-jawed, straight-backed, irresistibly perfect” fellow named Thomas Morrison, who combines the impressive military credentials of Gen. David H. Petraeus with the civilian résumé (Northeastern governor, C.E.O.) of Mitt Romney, a man described in these pages with the sort of breathless encomiums that a G.O.P. press office could only dream of. We’re told that Morrison is attractive, affable, courteous, dignified, well spoken, a military man with a “natural aptitude” for politics and a “talent for declaring his support for positions that were broadly popular with the voters with arguments that appeared insightful and principled.”
Hmm — badly written, puddle-deep, unfunny, consumed by fantasies about Republican daddies, and if not actually right-wing certainly fully marinated in right-wing talking points. Granting that this could be a lot of people –including pretty much anyone employed by Fred Hiatt — isn’t Mark Halperin the obvious candidate?