Pierce Stanley attended the New Yorker Festival’s forum on the election and reports back to us about the surprisingly unpretentious event.

An aura of humor, optimism, and wit was omnipresent within columned halls of Chelsea’s Metropolitan Pavilion yesterday at the New Yorker Festival’s featured political discussion of the 2008 election, entitled “The Campaign Trail.” Three of the magazine’s brightest political commentators, including the ever-eloquent Ryan Lizza, the down to the nitty-gritty George Packer, and the sage-like Hendrik Hertzberg joined moderator and Executive Editor of the New Yorker, Dorothy Wickenden, in a panel to discuss the current state of the Presidential election as well as give their personal predictions for election day, a mere thirty days hence.

While early fall’s jovialty seemed to dominate the occasion, witnessed in lengthy exchanges of banter between the panelists at the beginning of the event, gathered in a series of laughs at Sarah Palin’s expense, and the occasional Joe Biden and “maverick” joke also noticeably in tow, a genuine conviviality seemed to offer a pleasant social veneer to a political conversation that was decidedly serious throughout. While the issue of change was central to the conversation, the two fundamental questions that drove yesterday’s panel were, “How much is it that the issues driving this election are changing?” and “How much is it that the candidates’ styles are changing?”

Indeed, the panel kicked off with a discussion of the morphing nature of Senator John McCain’s candidacy, most ardently apparent with his surprise choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate. Lizza was quick to suggest that McCain’s ever-evolving campaign is attributable to his inability to keep a firm political brand, a trait that allowed him initially to bypass the traditionally conservative Republican base and appeal to independents and moderates, but an attribute that might not hold up well within an extremely volatile economic environment and a fast-paced election that will only accelerate in the coming days. “That’s what got him elected nominee in the first place, but will it continue to work?” Lizza said. Moreover, the eloquent reporter drew laughs when suggesting that the John McCain of today’s campaign has had about “Dix different general election strategies, and he’s gone through all of them.” Indeed, Lizza went on to posit that it might be the “genuinely erratic nature” of McCain’s candidacy that might win or lose the election for him in light of Obama’s calmness and coolness during politically and economically volatile times.

While Lizza brought the rhetorical spark to the early part of the discussion, suggesting that a stark contrast in the candidates’ temperaments would ultimately decide the election, it was George Packer who brought the hard numbers and cold facts to the table. Packer, who wrote a number of New Yorker political dispatches from Kentucky and West Virginia during the Democratic primaries, knew precisely what he was talking about when waxed about the challenges that Barack Obama must face in the coming thirty days if he is to be elected by the increasingly aloof, white, working-class, swing-state electorate. Packer brought forth some clever insight into what Obama has to do in the coming days to pick up the blue-collar, middle class, and particularly union demographics in industrial states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio that are key to his electoral strategy. While Packer suggested that in this election Democrats might be able to prevail without profound support from the white working class, they will be unable to attain a certain level of political dominance, particularly in Congressional elections without the support of unions.

Hendrik Hertzberg provided perhaps the most interesting commentary of the event, if not the wittiest. While Lizza concentrated predominantly on image and Packer on political realities, Herzberg operated on a largely theoretical level. He spoke of fundamental differences that divide the parties, offered a perspective on the election intensely focused on history, and only briefly touching upon the very pragmatic challenges that await both candidates in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

An event that very easily could have fallen prey to the pretension and pomposity that frequently befalls such gatherings of East Coast liberal elitists, The New Yorker Festival’s “Campaign Trail” gathering was a stunning display of intellect, marked by a palpable care for the future course of our nation by four individuals who have been heavily invested in the documentation of the election as of late. What made the occasion truly remarkable was that, if only briefly, it offered a light-hearted and genuine look at the harshest of political realities that our country faces today, with some very challenging questions expertly asked and answered. One can only hope that this spirit of enlightened optimism will continue to pervade New Yorker Festival events (and by extension American politics) in the future.
–Pierce Stanley