Confidence, Humility Must-Haves for Next President, Newsweek Editor Says
Ioana Patringenaru | January 22, 2008
Self-confidence. Humility. The willingness to listen to those who disagree with you. These are the key traits that Newsweek assistant managing editor Evan Thomas is looking for in this year’s crop of presidential candidates. Thursday, he evaluated leading contenders for the presidential nomination in front of a packed audience at the Price Center Ballroom.
“More important than their position on the issues, is my sense of their character,” he said.
Newsweek assistant managing editor Evan Thomas spoke Thursday at UCSD.
UCSD-TV will broadcast Evan Thomas' talk throughout the month of February. Airtimes include: 8 p.m. Feb. 4
10 p.m. Feb. 5
7 p.m. Feb. 8
8 p.m. Feb. 10
9 p.m. Feb. 11
10 p.m. Feb. 5
11 p.m. Feb. 12
6 p.m. Feb. 15
11 p.m. Feb. 17
A former history major at Harvard, Thomas sprinkled his 90-minute talk with historical references, from the Roman Empire, to the Civil War, to the end of the Cold War. The United States, he argued, must avoid the arrogance that doomed the Roman Empire. The next president will play an important role in leading the country away from hubris, he said.
Thomas first went through the field of Democratic candidates. Hillary Clinton essentially has been promising a restoration of her husband’s presidency and of the 1990s, he said. She has stressed her experience and sought to reassure voters. But Thomas pointed out that other accounts have portrayed Clinton as strident and secretive during her years in the White House.
By contrast, Barack Obama has offered a renewal of hope, Thomas said. “To me, it is terribly appealing,” he added. But Obama also has been vague and grandiloquent in some of his speeches, Thomas said. “He has the potential for self-awareness,” the editor said of Obama. “But without question, he would be a roll of the dice.” Meanwhile, John Edwards has promised to avenge the common man slighted by special interests, Thomas said. “But there is a slick and slippery quality to Edwards,” he added.
On the Republican side, Sept. 11 provided a great moment for Rudy Giuliani. But in New York, Giuliani was well known for surrounding himself with yes-men, Thomas said. His performance also came under fire, with some pointing out that emergency responders didn’t have adequate communications equipment on Sept. 11. “Giuliani has cracks in him,” Thomas said.
Mitt Romney presents himself as Mr. Fix-it, Thomas also said. But he seems too eager to please and has flip-flopped on his positions on abortion and gay rights, the editor pointed out. Mike Huckabee really is a charming man, Thomas added, but he has hired Ed Rollins, who has an established reputation as a negative campaigner, to run his presidential bid.
Thomas fielded many questions from the audience.
In the end, Thomas said that John McCain seems to have more integrity than most other candidates. “He really was a prisoner of war,” Thomas said. “He has the capacity to forgive that real suffering brings about.” But McCain also has a temper, Thomas added. The Newsweek editor confided that Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser who now advises McCain, has told Thomas that he is not sure whether the senator would listen to opposite views if he has a strong gut feeling about what to do in a crisis. “I’m afraid he’s going to invade Iran,” Thomas said later, half-jokingly.
During a Q&A session following his talk, Thomas also weighed in on a potential third-party candidacy by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The conventional wisdom is that third-party candidates can’t win, Thomas said.
“But Bloomberg is different,” he added. “For starters, he has $1 billion.”
Bloomberg might get in the race if Republicans nominate Giuliani and Democrats nominate Clinton, Thomas added. He also might use the threat of a candidacy as leverage to get in on a presidential ticket as a vice president with a specific portfolio, Thomas said.
“It’s going to be fun to watch,” the Newsweek editor concluded.
After the speech, sophomore Jenny Liu said she liked Thomas’ reticence to endorse any one candidate. “I’m glad I came,” she said. “It gave me a lot of things to think about.”
Thursday’s talk was sponsored by UCSD Extension’s Helen Edison Lecture Series.
 Thomas has been assistant managing editor at Newsweek since 1991. He is the magazine's lead writer on major news stories and the author of many longer features, including the magazine’s special behind-the-scenes issues on presidential elections and more than a hundred cover stories. He was pivotal in spearheading the Newsweek’s award-winning coverage of the war on terror from the Washington bureau. He had served as the bureau’s chief from 1986 to 1996.
Thomas also is the author of six books, including "John Paul Jones," a biography of the American revolutionary (2003), a New York Times best seller; "Robert Kennedy: His Life" (2000); "The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA" (1995) and "Ships in the Night: Four Naval Commanders and the Last Sea War" (2006).
Thomas is a graduate of Harvard, where he returned as a visiting professor in 2004-05, and of the University of Virginia Law School. He lives with his wife and two children in Washington, D.C.
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