Frank Bruni wrote a flattering profile of one of the newest official members of the Democratic presidential field—former Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper—last week in the New York Times. The article portrayed Hickenlooper in pretty glowing personal terms, noting his sunny optimism and affability, suggesting that maybe this is the type of candidate Democrats need to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020, and the type of candidate the country needs to heal some of its divides.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with congenial people running for high office. But there are significant problems with this sort of political journalism, which both relies on often incorrect assumptions and tends to favor a certain demographic of candidate at the expense of others. CONT.
Seth Masket, Pacific Standard