James Naughtie’s America
Seasoned political journalist James Naughtie shares his thoughts on the US presidential race, and what makes a good interview, with Peter Cheney.
Less than a year before the USA chooses a new President, Jim Naughtie finds that many Americans no longer believe in the American Dream. The BBC Today Programme presenter has covered every presidential election since 1988 and is discussing the current state of US politics after speaking at the Belfast Festival at Queen’s.
“Many Americans, say aged between 30 and 50, are profoundly sceptical of the idea with which they grew up, that it was almost an inheritance of theirs that every generation would be better off than the one before,” he comments.
That idea of constant progress was treated as an “absolute fact” that “made you an American” but now rings hollow in the Rust Belt and across the South. Indebtedness to China and Japan are major worries. Together, those countries hold around 45 per cent of US foreign debt.
“The idea that America no longer rules the waves is one that [has] really taken hold,” Naughtie reflects with some regret. “It’s extremely hard to use the word pessimism in relation to the States because it’s the most optimistic country in the world. And there will be a huge amount of rhetoric [this year] about ‘the Americans will bounce back, we’ll do it, that’s what we are etc. etc.’ but I think underneath that there’s a real lurking fear that it’s no longer true.”
A decade of conflict since 9/11 has added to that fear. Realising the threat of terrorism was a “profound shock” and Americans are “slightly bewildered” that they are no safer after the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. Around 6,200 US troops have died and 47,000 have been injured in both campaigns.
An old saying goes that voters don’t make up their minds after baseball’s World Series is over, which makes for a lot of deciding in the last week of October.
Obama will undoubtedly have to “carry the can” for unemployment, pay cuts and repossessions on his watch and there is now a “sense of quite steep disillusionment” among young people.
Turning to the Republican side, Naughtie adds: “There is absolutely no doubt that the person that the White House fears most is Mitt because he is competent. He is actually more personable than he was in the last campaign.”
Mitt Romney avoids the false conspiracy theories about Obama and instead paints him as “rather a nice guy” who wants the same things as him but “doesn’t know how the world works”. To win the primaries, though, Romney will play to the Tea Party with right-wing rhetoric.
“It’s beyond me to imagine that they could nominate Rick Perry but it’s not impossible,” Naughtie adds. While the Texas Governor is a “seasoned politician,” he has shown a “real lack of grip” on the Middle East, among other issues.
Romney’s weaknesses are his liberalism, faith and wealth. As Massachusetts Governor, he introduced a nearly universal health insurance plan. Many evangelicals “regard Mormonism as a cult” and it’s also “very easy to portray him as a very rich, smooth, Wall Street corporate fat cat, largely because that is indeed what he is.”
Although Americans frequently talk about freedom, enterprise and the American Dream, “very rich folks from Wall Street are not the flavour of the month” at the moment. However, Naughtie’s hunch is “if the Republican Party is serious about winning the election, they should nominate him.”
His own experience of America goes back to studying at Syracuse, upstate New York, back in the mid-1970s. He clearly regrets the polarisation and growing cynicism in its society, which in turn causes serious political damage.
The American constitutional settlement assumed that parties in Congress would search for consensus but his sources in Washington are “very gloomy about the prospects of any administration and Congress being able to sort out some of the deep-seated problems because the ideological rift is so profound now.”
Partisan talk shows and radio reflect the prejudices of their audiences, who are “not interested in hearing another point of view”. An ex-army colonel and Tea Party activist whom he met in Kentucky only listened to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
Getting answers
Hearing that makes him more proud of British radio’s style: “We have managed to preserve in this country the idea of the interview as being something that is an opportunity for people to hear their concerns, their questions, being put and answered.”
For almost every interview, his rule is: “You work out what the one thing is you want to know or you’ve at least got to be determined to get at, and everything else is a bonus.”
Going with the conversational flow is better than sticking to a plan. An alert interviewer who listens to the answers can pick up something intriguing, unexpected or surprising.
Naughtie sums up: “In a good interview, the person being interviewed has always had an opportunity to put their case across, assuming they’ve got one, but the question that most of your listeners want to hear asked has been asked and answered.” The art of it is “letting people feel that they really have learnt something, that light has been cast on something.”
On radio, it’s hard to avoid interrupting a down-the-line interview and eye contact makes the process much more straightforward. “Politicians and experienced people know it. When they’re actually there, it’s much better for us and it’s much better for them too,” he comments.
Realistically, some BBC services to the public will be hit by cuts. That said, he thinks that austerity is forcing to BBC to “think very hard” about its core values and what it does best.
“The BBC can never win because it’s got to try to please everybody, which is impossible,” he quips. With News International on the defensive, when it could otherwise be criticising the licence fee, this is “rather a happy coincidence.”
