Men with uncompromised flair and the money to show it are perhaps most common in the United States, where the caucuses to decide the presidential nominees are shortly to begin. Due to a shift in timing, the advertising for these campaigns has reached fever pitch at precisely the time of year you feel most candidates (but more probably their staff) wish they could be tucked up in some drunken bolthole at the quieter end of town, before shambling off into some ill-advised interlude with an aspiring minion. No such luck. This is a long game, longer than all the last minute mud-slinging, shock troops and expectation management would suggest.
Most if not all of the candidates have books out, but among the most prolific is Republican frontrunner Mike Huckabee. A conservative, baptist preacher, keen bassist and former governor of Arkansas, Huckabee has what might be described as a financially intriguing past, and a publishing record going back at least ten years that focuses on self-realisation for Americans, either through religion or being generally kick ass. (Quit Digging Your Grave With A Knife And Fork being among the punchier titles.) Huckabee has the kind of gleam in his eye that reminds you of Howard Dean four years ago, but whether or not there will be a repeat of the ‘Iowa scream‘ is yet to be seen. Iowa voting is on January 3, so watch this space.
These books are image management, ego and a method of moving your message unfiltered. Generally, these are not widely read books; if they were bestsellers, it would be somewhat unnerving (like a little red, white and blue book for a new America – which is what some on Huckabee’s tomes sound like). These days we expect politicians to have some form of moral compass, although we distrust religion (make of that what you will, but it’s probably more sensible than it sounds), so it is only natural that they should start writing books to prove how rightheaded they are. Gordon Brown did a similar thing while he was waiting for Tony Blair to leave, touting his book on courage in all of Britain’s finest media shopfronts.
Image may be big in politics, but it’s even bigger in music – and as such, books that promote self-help / the values and unrivalled brilliance of the author are starting to pop up. Following his mothers’s move into the market, Kanye West has risen above the unsightly tiff between him and ‘Fiddy’ Cent to release the inspirational Thank You And You’re Welcome, a collection of ‘Kanye-isms’ designed to inspire and illuminate one’s path to success – released in January you’ll note, to coincide with all those budding resolutions.
More strangley, oddball movie maestro David Lynch has teamed up with wandering troubadour Donovan to found the Invincible Donovan University in Scotland, teaching children the wonders of yogic flying and transcendental meditation. Fast forward a generation and we’ll all be in the thrall of a resurgent natural law party. (To be fair, can it really do any harm? It is certainly less unpleasant than these hideous sunglasses Kanye West has inflicted upon us, which look like they were designed to combat snow blindness.)
Perhaps Huckabee and his band – the unnervingly titled Capitol Offence (a diarist must be itching to question his stance on the death penalty) – can combine the two markets somehow? It’s hard to envisage, but then so is this campaign video in the real world. (Original email jokes here.) If you thought Barack Obama was the only contender for a real ‘change election’, watch and wonder. Is it a joke, or isn’t it? And which is the more worrying answer?
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 