george packer on john mccain
George Packer at newyorker.com, reflecting on a town hall style meeting McCain held in January: “Back then he was witty, he was relaxed, he was appealingly combative, he was generous. For sheer talent at engaging with voters he had it all over both Obama and Clinton. The contrast now is so severe that it makes running for President seem like a personal disaster on the scale of a prolonged nervous breakdown leading to physical and psychological ruin.”
(And the delta between the McCain profiled in David Foster Wallace’s essay-turned-book McCain’s Promise is even more stark…)