Primary Colors, Anonymous (Joe Klein), Random House, 1996.

This book is interesting because it describes the campaign for the presidency of the current occupant of the White House. It is an accurate portrayal, not in terms of exact events, though it is close enough even there, but in terms of the psychology of the participants and the effects of the feminist movement on the development of their character.

This book also takes the prize for cynicism, hands down. Whether the writer is the great cynic, or the subject of his narration isn't clear, probably both. This level of cynicism reaches that, one imagines, of between wars Germany or post-Augustus Rome. Can a culture, led by people suffering from this degree of cynicism stand?

It is called a novel, but, from the style, it is reportage. Not only that, it is transparently about the 1992 presidential election with the only debate being who some of the minor characters actually are. The main characters have had their names changed only, and some of the events are altered slightly. This is apparent, even to me, one who followed the campaign in the media, more interested than average, perhaps, but only slightly.

The most striking thing about the book is the language, which epitomizes the common feminist notion that to be more like males you have to emulate their conduct in the absence of females. One has heard that this sort of language is common in the baby boom generation, an outgrowth of Mario Savio's dirty speech movement at Berkeley in the sixties, I guess. But, the use of it passes the imagination. It is used in the most banal conversations and, perhaps more so, in the moments of high drama. Some, like the campaign manager are more dependent on it than others, who seem to use it more or less habitually. There is no distinction between males and females here, the females perhaps trying to emulate the males, which they do very well, without any sign of embarrassment, and the males going along so as not to embarrass the females? Both of them imagine that this makes the sexual act easier to achieve, and maybe it does, though they have a term for it, "campaign sex".

This event manages, in the eyes of the writer of this review, to match up with the Anita Hill and Lorena Bobbitt affairs in lurid detail and tastelessness.

Of course, the question that perplexes all, both the characters and the reader, is: Is the candidate a characterless slob, or, when one looks deeper, is there some overarching explanation for his inevitable disregard of the consequences for himself, but more importantly, for others, of his actions, particularly with regard to sex? The question is never satisfactorily answered, even when the "dustbuster", the name chosen for the woman designated to contain scandal, commits suicide. Instead, the character of the candidate is presented in such a way as to produce even more confusion in the end than at the beginning. He is basically effeminate, and this provides his enduring charm as a compassionate man able to communicate on the non-verbal or verbal levels his easy grasp of the suffering of individuals and groups, while at the same time destroying any possibility of adherence to rules of conduct because of the overriding emotion attending individual events.

As such, the candidate is the characterization of the dilemma of the culture. How to make allowances for the extremities of the moment in public policy while at the same time imposing rules of conduct that make the culture rational and predictable. Perhaps this is an accurate representation of the actual man. A new sort of man, certainly in public life at these levels, a man created by the revolution of the sixties who has bent his efforts towards making himself acceptable to the representatives of the new feminist culture, particularly his wife.

Another good point made by this book, is that the campaign is a pretty good emulation in microcosm of the incumbency to be expected, when elected. That the campaign for this office has risen to such a level of hysteria that it provides a glimpse into the success at crisis management to be expected in the candidate.