Christopher Buckley, PR genius

On Friday's installment of Greater Boston's Beat the Press, Herald deputy managing editor Joe Sciacca suggested that Christopher Buckley's recent endorsement of Barack Obama might be a PR stunt aimed at promoting his next book.

You got it, Joe. From today's NY Times profile of Buckley:

As to his own father, it was “a complicated relationship,” he said. Early on, the elder Mr. Buckley was enthusiastic about his son’s writing. But as the son racked up one best seller after another, the father grew deeply critical. Mr. Buckley can quote word for word: “Sorry, this one didn’t work for me,” or, “As regards your new book, my views are negative.” When his father inscribed books to him, he signed them, “Bill.”

Mr. Buckley does not say so, but the suggestion of father-son competition hung in the air. Perhaps he will spell it out in his memoir, “Losing Mum and Pup,” due out next year. “I wrote it in 40 days,” he said. “It just kind of poured out.”

Is it a kiss-and-tell?

“It’s a live-and-tell,” he said, “a grow-up-and-tell.”

Think that book might sell a wee bit better thanks to the Obama kerfluffle?