Whistlestop

Full of dad jokes and John Dickerson's wry old radio-style humor, Whistlestop is catnip to politicos, but probably too esoteric for the rest of us.

Disclaimer: I am a huge John Dickerson fan; he's been my favorite host on my favorite podcast, Slate's Political Gabfest, since I became a regular weekly listener in 2011. When I started watching his ‘day job', i.e. Face the Nation, I was really impressed as well: it was true! There truly is a special, incisive magic to the “Dickersonian” question! He's a damn good journalist. Maybe... DA BEST of this generation!?! He certainly does have a way of unpacking politicians with his rapier-like questions that come wrapped in inoffensive “aw shucks, who? me?” old time dapper-ness. He's also quite mysterious: keeping his personal politics inscrutable, letting his personal spirituality (I think he's a devout Catholic?) peep through by, say, quoting St. Augustine on his Instagram or something. And his moments of waxing poetic about the Fourth Estate, and freedom of the press?! Oh, man. The gospel according to St. John (D.). I tell ya, when aliens come or zombies happen, I will only trust John Dickerson to report it.

So anyway. In addition to being a much-loved, much-trusted newsman, JDicks is also a GIANT NERD about old campaign history. On the Political Gabfest, they have a segment called “Cocktail Chatter”, where each host shares an interesting book or movie they just read/watched. John will almost always have some historical tidbit from 1848. (This chatter still makes me laugh out loud.) Those chatters became so legendary, they formed a spinoff podcast, Whistlestop, which then formed this book.

Essentially, it's a highlights and lowlights from presidential campaign history. From 19th century scandals to 20th century... well, scandals, it is an aficionado's book for the aficionado. I found it alternatingly vaguely interesting, or kinda boring (sorry, John!). The overall theme of the book is one of reassurance: we spent much of the awful 2016 election discussing what an aberration all of it was. Lest I be accused of the Sin of Normalization, Whistlestop does provide a useful perspective: we see the echoes of Trump in Andrew Jackson's upset in 1828, we see the rise of self-defined, proud/angry ‘Deplorables' and the tapping of racist fringes in George Wallace's surprise almost-win in 1968.

Of course, things seem scarier now because the world seems to have raised the stakes: we have industrialized genocides now, after all; we have the power of the bomb; we live in a Panopticon of near-total surveillance.

If you're more of a presidential campaign noob, or you're just generally interested in the Presidency, the Washington Post's Presidential podcast is an excellent ‘introduction'. Whistlestop can sometimes get lost in the weeds which - again, if you're into this stuff already, it's glorious. But if, like me, one Republican National Convention from the 1960s is much like the other, then you will have your eyes get a bit glazey.