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Would My Father Have Voted for Obama?
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You get asked a lot of odd questions when you go on a book tour. And give even stranger answers. Did I ever tell you about the time I collaborated with Proust? Or was an adviser to William Howard Taft?
I’m on a book tour.
I won’t call it “book tour hell,” as many authors do, because—dangerous admission—I’m actually enjoying this one. Why, I don’t quite know. Perhaps it’s the nature of this particular book (a memoir), as opposed to my more typical stuff (sort of high-concept comic fiction).
The high point of the three hours came after the first break, when the host announced, “We’re back with Christopher Hitchens.”
One Sunday ago, I spent three hours at C-SPAN. Three hours. I have about five minutes of intelligent conversation in me, but somehow the time went by, even enjoyably. The three hours was leavened by B-roll taken of me giving a tour of the Mall in Washington. I was wearing a pastel-colored shirt, tan jacket, shades, and a thin brimmed Panama hat, which gave me the appearance of a pudgy, gay CIA agent from the Bay of Pigs era. The high point of the three hours came after the first break, when the host announced, “We’re back with Christopher Hitchens.”
Continuing the Christopher theme, my friend Chris Matthews had me on Hardball last Friday. Chris was a big fan of my late father, William F., who was in turn very fond of Chris and appeared many times on Hardball. He showed clips of WFB’s appearances during our segment. It was a strange sensation, watching my father, circa 2000, on a monitor, younger and healthier than my last memories of him, as if his ghost had been conjured in a high-tech séance.
Chris asked, “Did your dad vote for Obama?” I said I rather doubted it, as he’d died in February 2008. Chris grinned in a Cheshire Cat way, recovering in about .002 seconds. He has one of the sharpest minds I know. I’ve been in his and Christopher Hitchens’ presence a few times and it’s like watching a tennis match played at the speed of light.
“Yeah, OK, but would he have voted for him?” Chris pressed.
I cleared my throat and said well, it’s tricky, you know, trying to channel the ghost of one’s dad. Hamlet tried it and look what—
Yeah, yeah, Chris said; or something like that—not buying my equivocation and pressing on with the subjunctive.Come on. Would he have voted for him?
I said it was possible. My father would have been impressed by Barack Obama’s mind and style and grace of manner, as well as by—I’m certain—his abilities as a writer. Whether he’d have pulled the lever for him… I’ll revert to my Hamlet-qualm.
I do know this much: Some of WFB’s great friendships were with Men of the Left. Every month or so, during John Kenneth Galbraith’s declining years, Pup would board a train in Stamford and go up to Boston to sit at his old friend’s bedside. Daniel Patrick Moynihan took away my father’s brother’s U.S. Senate seat in 1976; it didn’t affect WFB’s friendship with him. That’s bipartisanship. WFB secretly subsidized publication of Murray Kempton’s last book—an act of generosity Murray himself was unaware of. Ira Glasser, head of the ACLU, as in “card-carrying American Civil Liberties Union,” took my father to his first baseball game, some time in the 1990s(!), an event that was regarded as singular enough to be reported on by The New Yorker’s Talk of the Town. The most prominent politician at my father’s memorial Mass in Saint Patrick’s cathedral? George McGovern.
I did have an actual—or sort of actual—Hamlet moment last week. After taping a segment with Charlie Rose, he and I were making small talk as I was de-microphoned. Charlie allowed how he was a bit tired after a long day that had begun in Washington with a taping likely to air sooner than my own—with Timothy Geithner.
I quoted Twain’s great line, “Homer’s dead, Shakespeare’s dead, and I myself am not at all well.” And walked out, only to bump smack into Charlie’s next guest, who’d been standing there listening to our persiflage—Kenneth Branagh. What a memorable film-Hamlet he gave us a few years back.
Those are the fun moments of a book tour. Some years ago, I had Tony Curtis all to myself for half an hour in a green room in L.A.
“You know where the center of New York is?” he said. “Fifty-fifth street, in front of the Saint Regis Hotel. You know why?”
I said no, why?
“’Cause I used to shine shoes there when I was nine years old. Now I arrive in a limousine”—he said this with a half-smile that seemed to indicate he knew very well he was striking a pose—“and it’s ‘Hello, Mr. Curtis!’”
Sometimes one can make one’s own fun. Some years back, I found myself in mid-book tour, 10 days or so in, a bit punchy and tired of my own voice. I was flogging a novel, my seventh or eighth book, and had wearied of the “About the Author” paragraph on the back flap, and so had just made it up, writing, He has been an adviser to every president since William Howard Taft. As well as claiming co-authorship with Proust of Remembrance of Time Past.
Walking into the radio studio in Boston, an AM drive-time show, I saw the host speed-reading the back flap with beetled brow. He looked up at me blankly.
“You were an adviser to William Howard Taft?”
“Yeah,” I said matter-of-factly. I was, as I say, punchy.
His brow furrowed. “So…we could talk about that?”
“Yeah,” I said. And we did. I haven’t been asked back, but you know, it was worth it.
Plus: Check out Book Beast, for more news on hot titles and authors and excerpts from the latest books.
Christopher Buckley’s books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
One Hell of a Speech
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
The Audacity of Oops
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
Too Big to Succeed
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
photoshock
Mr. Buckley, your comments on the state of the Union, vis-a-vis the idea of voting for or against the current president, are one of a kind.
Your 'Pup' G-d rest his soul, was one of the few truly conservative commentators that impressed me as a thinking and logical person. My memories of him include watching the PBS program and was saddened when he retired from it. PBS
has yet to find a truly great conservative to replace him.
To say that he might have voted for Barack Obama, is the highest praise one can give, not being able to channel a dead man does not lessen the high praise this endorsement of Barack Obama.
Thank you so much for your insightful and witty commentary on the subject, it would make your father proud to know you are prospering in a completely topsy-turvy, 'Alice in Wonderland' kind of world, where the politics of the day is divisive and 'Balkanizing.'
scough
God, what a kiss a-s!
spinozareader
photoshock
When a smug, narcissistic idiot like "scough" insults you, smile in the knowledge that you're most assuredly on the side of the angels in any argument.
boyter
To paraphrase Thumper's father, "If you can't say something intelligent, don't say anything at all."
scough
Gawd! What a kiss a-s.
scough
ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
boyter
Regrettably politics has often been Balkanizing viz. the 19th Century, McCarthyism and the Viet Nam War. As an old Anti-War protester, I am ashamed, not of what I thought, but of the way I phrased it. I am also ashamed of the way returning servicemen were treated, and not just by the public, but by the VA. At least we have learned from that.
Concordian
Mr. Buckley, You're whip smart, and I love your tasteful modesty about your intellingence. Your sprinklings of Dominick Dunnesque brief but meaningful moments with celebrities make you a delightfully juicy read. I predict a great future for you and look forward to many more columns.
Issywise
Buckley's kind of an old guy already. I think we better hope that his "great future" has already arrived.
Concordian
I was being ironic, silly!
Mixpixlix
Read Losing Mum & Pup yesterday and what a great tribute to your parents and all "kids" who must deal with the dying and death of their progenitors.
Like yours both of my parents died in the same year ( I don't like the word LOST because I know very well where they are). I was in my early 20s and had younger siblings. Traumatic doesn't begin to cover the experience.
What applaud most about the book is showing us that your parents as wealthy, famous and connected as they were ... were people with the same frailities as the rest of us.That age and infirmities have dire effects regardless of position, class or station in life.
Paraphasing another reviewer, Well done, Christobal.
Issywise
I saw Mr. Buckley's father give a presentation in Tampa in the 1980s. The affair is memorable for two reasons. First, William F. claimed his own father had voted for LBJ four times, all after he'd died. Sounded likely to me.
Second, this was the time that Stevie Wonder was encouraging America's indignation toward South African Apartheid. WFB warned that decades of South African history could not be reversed in a blink and that America shouldn't agitate for immediate change but rather expect a generation of corrective political evolution. Within a year Mandela was free, the ANC recognized and South Africa blinking its way to political reformation.
Such are the perils of the conservative mindset.
Now let's all say: health care reform, responsible government finance and, of course, "Yes, we can"---but for the $730 million dollars our president raised to buy his office.
First things first.
boyter
Obama didn't buy his office. On a level playing field he was just far more able to articulate his position than McCain, and was far more energetic. He has turned out to be far more conservative than I had hoped. I had hoped for an evisceration of Wall Street, and an end to unearned bonuses. McCain had an anchor round his neck named George W. Bush.
BeastofBourbon
Mr. Buckley,
Love the war stories from the book tour. In the same vein as "Seinfeld"'s Kramer making a coffee table book about coffee tables, might I suggest a future book about book tours, replete with such tales? Something to consider.
I very much enjoyed watching your "In Depth" segment on CSPAN2's Book TV, and the D.C. mall tour was fun. You have a great future as a tour guide if this whole "writing" thing doesn't pan out as expected.
Hope the rest of the book tour goes well. Best of luck to you.
ginsushark
you were entertained by that? thought it was borish name dropping. rambling.
Ritarita
Chris Matthews
Might have gotten
Closer to an answer
By asking if
Your father would
Have voted for
McCain/Palin.
DevilsLawyer
Good point. I'm guessing he would either have voted for the Democratic ticket or stayed home.
gator1
WFB was one of the most gracious men I've ever met. And, the younger isn't too bad himself.
ghpdb60
Mr Buckley, Thanks. I read NRO only because my own son thinks they are pretty. None of their current editors can hold a candle to your Dad, and it is my gut instinct that WFB saw that as well before he died. I have followed your Dad, somewhat from afar I must admit, from the days he was first getting started on Jack Paar et-al. Conservative political philosophy, the kind esposed by WFB where intellect was center stage, has a correct and powerful place in America.
scough
Yawn!!!! Are his parents still dead? How is the dead parents book doing? Can anything more be done on this site to promote the dead parents book? Tina, any ideas?
jackbutler5555
scough:
We have been waiting for your reaction to this article. We didn't know what to think, until you provided the wherewithal. It's especially generous of you to opine, when it is clear that once you had seen the headline you wouldn't normally bother. I don't know why you do it, but I think I speak for all here in saying your ability to say so little in 30 words astonishes us. We can only hope you continue reading and commenting on Buckley's articles, even though it's clear you have already concluded they are such a waste of time.
Ritarita
jack-
Scough is
A card-carrying
Member
Of the new ammo
Hoarding minority.
Cut him a little break
Until he makes the
Necessary adjustments
To his diminished
Position.
scough
"We"? "Wherewithal"? Oh, stock market tip for you: I'm shorting BDPB (Buckley Dead Parents Book, LLC.)
GailMoore
This scough unit seems to be pushing a personal vendetta - a pity to waste time this way when there are so many pleasant things he/she/it could be doing instead.
connie47
Scough is the kind of person who really has nothing to say, so he spends his time ridiculing others, but doing even that without any real wit.
Pmedeiros
Mr. Buckley,
I finished reading Losing Mum and Pup the day it arrived (Amazon logs me in as welcome back sweetie) and have ordered copies of Wry Martinis and Washington Schlepped. I too lost my parents with months of each other. I just found an early photo of my mother and found myself saying as you did, "What a Babe." My dad and I both loved your father and watched Firing Line together. I have a special shelf of your dad's saling books and the novels that were my father's gifts from me. Your father even briefly seduced me into becoming a Goldwater girl. Thank you for bringing your parents back so beautifully. The book sure worked for me.
Peggi Medeiros
muddog
WFB was an intellectual, the current G.O.P. has NOTHING intellectual about it, in fact the party seems to embrace ignorance. I remember watching WFB on PBS and even though my views are opposite of his, he actually spoke / thought / debated in a mature, thoughtful way that has been missing form the current Republican / Conservative party.
Is not WFB considered an "Elitist"?.
I did vote for BHO and find him very intelligent and after the last 8 years of utter embarrassment he is a breath of fresh air.
One cannot imagine WFB "pulling the lever" for Palin.
misemefein
Mr. Buckley, you have inadvertently highlighted the greatest privilege of being born Irish Catholic: the flesh is mortal, but the franchise is eternal. Surely that assumption marks context in which Mr. Matthews first spoke.
But I like the Hamlet reference better.
Thank you for your wit and grace!
ConstitutionalRights
WFB was a very unique man, with a verbal art of getting to the point in a manner that was difficult to dispute.
I sincerely doubt he would have voted for Obama, but he may not have voted for McCain. In a real sense, the Republican party offered up a mirror image to Democratic philosophy without the polish, style, or charisma of Obama.
At the end of the day, both parties have some good ideas but spend too much time playing king of the mountain. WFB would have been apalled I believe at the fiscal irresponsibility of both over the last decade and amazed at the lemming attitude of the masses..
HughMunn
Sir:
"Unique" is one of those words that can't have a "very" in front of it.
Things are either unique -- one of a kind -- or they're not.
You can't qualify "unique" to any degree.
A commensurate example would be for you to tell the world that your daughter is "very pregnant" with her first illegitimate child.
Even if it was Mr. Buckley's, she would still only be "pregnant."
pricklypear
Sir:
Very pregnant is 36 weeks...as in beached whale, can't turn over in bed, pregnato.
Also, a child is a child. You are very out of line.
HughMunn
To the idiot below:
How about "dead," then -- as in your mind?
Qualify that, along with "unique."
And "it" is common usage when the child's sex is indeterminate.
DreddBlog
Or would he have voted for the party who is out and busy about proving torture is mandatory if we are to spread democracy and freedom into the world:
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/05/gop-strategy-to-prove-torture-work s.html
milkman57
Mr Buckley,
You were very entertaining on CSPAN the other day. Always have been a fan of your dad even if I didn't agree with him. It's ironic to me that your Dad is in the spotlight because since I've retired from the military I've spent alot of time perusing the book selves of charitable institutions (the land of $1 books!) and have bought some of your Dad's books. I'm reading "The Unmaking of a Mayor" right now. It's a delightful read and so relevant these days when so-called conservatives are in the wilderness once again. These 21st century faux conservatives would do well to read this book and learn principals at the feet of a master instead of worshiping the ghost of a big government/deficit type like Reagan.
pricklypear
Keep reading. You have more to learn.
Thank you.
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