Whiny Frannk Bruni and the 2000 Election

One never knows where one will come across jarring historical artifacts. Lately the Times Dining Out section has been especially fertile ground. Frank Bruni's column yesterday on "restaurantspeak" reminded me that George W. Bush in 2000 was perhaps the luckiest candidate in American political history.

First a bit of background. Now the Times' Restaurant critic, Bruni was the NYT reporter assigned to cover the Bush campaign in 2000. Bruni's coverage of Bush was famously soft, as is evidenced by his memoir of the campaign Ambling into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush. Publishers Weekly describes Bruni's book as focusing

on the seemingly trivial aspects of Bush's personality, small moments that he believes "reveal every bit as much about Bush as large ones": Bush sticking his fingers in Bruni's ears to indicate something is off the record. Or Bush holding his pinkie to the corner of his mouth … la Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies.

This type of anecdote-obsessed coverage was typical of Bruni's reporting throughout the campaign. From the start he seemed smitten with Bush's back-slapping, hail-fellow-well-met persona.

All of which brings me to Bruni's restaurant column yesterday, which he basically devoted to complaining about servers using the word "enjoy" too liberally - as in "are you done enjoying your entree" or "would you like to enjoy some coffee with dinner." Bruni bristles at waiters presuming him to be "enjoying" his dish without even asking. Fair enough. But is this really so annoying as to merit an entire column?

I think this column is noteworthy for exposing Bruni's pettiness, a fixation on style over substance that characterized all of his 2000 campaign dispatches. Bruni seems to simply that a few phrases from the waiter can mar an entire meal, irrespective of how tasty the actual meal is. Similarly, one can imagine him taking a shine to George W. because he was a funny guy - irrespective of his lack of experience or policy knowledge.

Just read the Bruni column and ask yourself: was this really the reporter whom the newspaper of record designated to cover a Presidential candidate? Karen Hughes probably spun Bruni simply by forbidding the campaign flight attendants from telling him to "enjoy" his diet cokes!
Seriously though, Bruni's restaurant criticism's sensitivity to irrelevant details (I thought a restaurant critic was supposed to write about food) does give some insight into his weakness as a political reporter.

Bruni's caprice struck me becuase I read the "restaurantspeak" column just after completing a post about media coverage of Gore in 2000. Bush was incredibly fortunate to draw Bruni as his NYT campaign tail rather than the very critical Kit Seelye. And this accident of history mattered. Did it determine the outcome of the election? Certainly not. But in a contest as close as the 2000 Presidential election, NYT coverage almost certainly influenced some voters' in Florida (and other swing states) toward Bush. Hopefully future journalistic historians will mine Bruni's restaurant columns for insights into his misguided reporting in 2000.