No Bain, No Gain? — NYT Mag's Pro-Romney Cover/Story

New York Times Magazine asks a Bain Capital executive for his rationale on the validity of the 1%. The outcome is predictable. So is the clever visual assertion, via the faceless workers (that’s you and me, bub), that we owe our jobs to the creative powers of our financial betters?

And, frankly, where would we be without a shoe to shine?

Thinking more broadly about the timing and the editorial mindset, it sure feels like a push to clear the general election slate (or the etch-a-sketch) and afford Romney what some might term “a fresh look” or “a fair hearing” (as if analysis from one of his posse-members qualifies as such). To the extent that’s the case, though, I’m also wondering how much that’s just a natural part of the electoral process as we pivot away from the primary slog versus how much the development — placing us kneeling at the foot of Wall Street and these invisible (mostly) men — has to do with this moment in the season where both parties present themselves to the same pair of feet with hat-in-hand.

— Karen Hull

(Cover article. photo-illustration by Zachary Scott for NYTimes Magazine)