McClellan, Writing and Truth

(8 am – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Is this a Judas move? So asks Bill O’Reilly:

Milder reactions have emanated from the White House, ranging from being “puzzled”, intimating that McClellan didn’t write this book because it “doesn’t sound like him, it sounds like a left-wing blogger”, that this is an “out of body experience”, that McClellan was “disgruntled”, that “something dramatically has changed”, that the editor “tweaked some things in the past few months” and “wrote a lot of it”…

…and on, and on, and on.

But the process of writing is sitting in front of a blank screen, staring into one’s soul.

You can’t lie to yourself when you write (well, you can try but it won’t be very good or very convincing, either to yourself or to others). If eyes are the windows to the soul, the written word is its kitchen, bathroom and entire floorplan.

Good writers – and it indeed sounds like McClellan is a good writer as he’s been able to strike a national chord using his own words – write to their audience. Past experiences are a matter of personal reflection, conversations with knowledgeable sources, research, and several long, meditative walks. A good writer understands who he or she is writing to, knows how to communicate the message that he or she wants to send to this target audience and understands that once the words are sent into the public discourse there’s no taking them back. A good writer is a careful writer, choosing words as carefully as a photographer selects just the right lighting, or a chef shops for the freshest ingredients.

Good writers are also frugal writers. They use a minimum of words or evocative metaphors to convey a point, and once conveyed they move on. They write in layers, understanding that each adjective, each adverb, each noun may be used to foreshadow another motif that has yet to be fully introduced. They show more than tell, revealing the worlds of their conscience in stages, much like a realtor starting with the front porch and working his way through the house to the privacy of the bedrooms.

But above all good writers must write. They have stories to tell and they need to share these stories with others. Regardless of whether the timing is auspicious, or inconvenient, or just plain wrong, once the work is finished a good writer is itching to get it read by as many people as quickly as possible.

What is missing from the discussion of McClellan’s book is a simple understanding of who writers are and what they do. Scott McClellan was a White House Press Secretary at a time when most of the nation was awakening to the truth of this administration, being slapped in the face by events like Katrina and then understanding that this was not just one unfortunate episode of ball-dropping, but indicative of the competence and priorities of the folks working in the West Wing.

It is not unimaginable that this uncomfortable clarity entered into McClellan’s life at the same time it intruded into the lives of so many other Americans. As White House Press Secretary professionalism dictated that he kept these doubts in the quiet of his own mind.

As a writer these doubts manifested themselves in black and white, for the world to see.

A good writer couldn’t have written this book any other way.