Politics: Observations and Arguments

Event Details

Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor of The New Yorker and featured writer of the opening ?Talk of the Town? section, has been participating in and covering politics since 1966. He prays for a political campaign in which ?the staff does the handshaking while the candidate does the thinking,?a reversal of present practice. His ?observations? are sometimes scathing: as Pat Robertson speaks, he writes, ?self satisfaction seems to bubble up in his body, and when it bubbles up to mouth level, his voice gets gurgly with suppressed chuckles....? He expects Richard Gephardt to ?reach under his chin and peel back that immobile, monochromatic, oddly smooth face to reveal the lizard underneath.? Hertzberg, who served in the Carter administration, previously has visited the Miller Center to participate in the Presidential Oral History Program and in a conference of former presidential speech writers. A book signing will follow the Forum.