The Kemp Kabal

Books by aspiring politicians tend toward platitude. They aim to please, to inspire, and so they are dotted, from title to epilogue, with those familiar notions offensive to no man. God, country, mammon. Why Not the Best? Indeed.

Jack Kemp’s book contains its share of quaint patriotism (“this is a book about the American Dream, that amalgam of promise and effort and desire that made this country the hope of civilized peoples everywhere”), homely reminiscences (“During the Depression . . . my father . . .”), and sports metaphors. Ignore these. Like blown-dry hair they are the necessary adornments of the media-age politician, the homage each politician must pay to America’s lowest common denominator.

PG

About the Author

Paul Gigot

Books by aspiring politicians tend toward platitude. They aim to please, to inspire, and so they are dotted, from title to epilogue, with those familiar notions offensive to no man. God, country, mammon. Why Not the Best? Indeed.

Jack Kemp’s book contains its share of quaint patriotism (“this is a book about the American Dream, that amalgam of promise and effort and desire that made this country the hope of civilized peoples everywhere”), homely reminiscences (“During the Depression . . . my father . . .”), and sports metaphors. Ignore these. Like blown-dry hair they are the necessary adornments of the media-age politician, the homage each politician must pay to America’s lowest common denominator.