The U.S. News and World Report for June 23 pretty much pulled an Utne Reader trick. The cover has John McCain and Barack Obama on the cover, but no interviews or direct quotes.
The story is about what faces the next president, and has quotes from lots of policy wonks. A fairly decent story – but clearly the cover is about selling magazines, and anyone expecting an Obama interview is just out of luck.
Then there’s the National Review of June 30. Knew it was a conservative publication, because Kathleen Parker’s name was on the cover. And so it turned out to be.
Also on the cover is a picture of Barack in his 20’s, titled The Organizer, with him leaning against a poster from a voter registration drive. The phrase on the poster is It’s a Power thing, with a big red X beside it. They must have worked hard to find a picture with so much pungent code for today’s election. It’s a good picture, though.
I was amazed, in what seems to be a national magazine, that it was full of small time smarmy hate, with a bit of intellectual pretense. Not very well written, every other paragraph a screed of Republican rubbish.
They’re clearly even more out of touch with America than the New Yorker (given last week’s NY cover).
I expected an intelligent conservative discussion of issues and merits. I wasn’t planning to be persuaded, but thought I’d encounter good writing. Not so. One article was decently written, by Ramesh Ponnuru. But only one.
I’m enjoying my excursion into America’s current magazine culture. I’m going to go looking for more mags this week. Will keep you posted.