Jonathan Alter ON POLITICAL BOOKS
Alter, Jonathan
Jonathan Alter ON POLITICAL BOOKS L ou Cannon is the Lou Gehrig of Reagan reporters. He must hold some sort of record for consecutive campaigns covering a politician without being sent...
...Jonathan Alter is an editor of’ The Washington Monthly...
...It’s as if the author knows some people around town whisper that he is too cozy with Reagan and that he occasionally pulls punches in 7he Wushingron Post...
...And his chronicier, apparently, belonged there with him...
...One can’t help thinking, though, that thesedetailsand Cannon’s occasional characterizations of Reagan as “intellectually lazy” or uninformed-have a calculated quality to them...
...Reagan, we learn, is now sodeafthat the television in the White House family quarters must be turned on so loud that no one with normal hearing can stand to stay in the room...
...All of this makes for a good, balanced biographycertainly the best sofaron Rcaganand hisorigins-but also a predictable one, and one where the relationship between a politician and a reporter who stands to benefit greatly from his election is reflected in some unsettling ways...
...Reagan apparently reads more than is generally realized, but he has been known to nod off during important meetings...
...Cannon’s access to Reagan and to those aides who are the beneficiaries of what he calls the “delegated presidency” is so much better than most reporters’that the way he uses theaccess takesongenuineimportance...
...Which early 1930s Chicago Cub batter was at the plate when the wire went dead and radio announcer Reagan had to improvise, Cannon asked during a July 31, 1981 interview with the Rresident, Augie Galan or Billy Jurges...
...His sense of Reagan as an amiable dreamer with a flair for making the rehearsed sound spontaneous may well be the essence of the man...
...In classic Gehrig style, Cannon touches all bases...
...And indeed, at the very end of his book, the author seems almost apologetic for ever having doubted, writing that the North Carolina primary was when he liked Reagan best...
...Does i t seem as if Michael Deaver is the source for much of his inside information...
...Edwin Meesegets the biggest write-up of the top aides...
...In different renditions of the story over the years, Reagan had different ballplayers fouling off Dizzy Dean’s imaginary pitches, and Cannon wanted to straighten it out for history...
...He showed daring and grit...
...He includes a chapter taking swipes at James Watt and Reagan’s attitude toward the land...
...Who else but Cannon could know that Reagan’s famous “There yougoagain”1ineduring his debate with Jimmy Carter had been carefully practiced beforehand...
...In the Oval Office, which, Cannon notes in an effort to be fair, has badacoustics,aidesmusttalk tothe President ofthe United Statesat the topoftheirvoices...
...Reagan] thought a moment, and then said, ‘It was Jurges.’ ” If it’s a little peculiar that Cannon would spend valuable interviewing timeseeking answers to this kind of question (which only he would know to ask) it also says something about the breadth of his knowledge of Reagan’s charmed past-breadth reflected in this richly detailed and well-crafted biography...
...What Reagan was trying to say was that Cannon, of all people, should have known he would stay in the race, that their fates were in some way intertwined...
...Does it look as if he is letting Reagan off too easily on policy issues...
...Lou Cannon...
...Nancy-haters see their judgment vindicated by Cannon...
...Putnam’s, $18.95...
...He must hold some sort of record for consecutive campaigns covering a politician without being sent to another beat or brought into the front officeasanaide...
...Since 1966, when Reagan first entered politics as governor of California, Cannon has been there to make sure that “The Speech”-which he must have heard a few hundred times-sounded ever-fresh in the next morning’s newspaper...
...As it turned out, Reagan did not quit...
...One suspects that the friendship between the two men-Cannon includes an inscribed picture from Reagan in the photo section of his new book*-goes beyond old-shoe familiarity to a kind ofshared pridein this art of recreation, so essential to both politics and journalism...
...Does Reagan come out looking like a thoroughlygood guy...
...The result is that he almost always uses his special knowledge of Reagan to illustrate familiar criticisms...
...He belonged in the White House,” Cannon writes...
...When it’s used well, the resultsareimpressive...
...So hemakesaspecialeffort towalka fine line between his natural sympathy with the man and what he perceives as the demands of the objective journalist...
...You too, Lou?“ Reagan asked with hurt surprise when Cannon joined other reporters before the 1976 North Carolina primary in wanting to know if Reagan would quit hischallenge to President Ford...
...He went on to win the primary, and although he lost that year to Ford, Cannon says that without this dogged determination to stick it out, Reagan never would have been elected four years later...
Vol. 14 • October 1982 • No. 8
