Don Draper vs. Michael Scott

I'm thinking about loneliness (of men/of me) lately.

In the past {ref: reading book on Magellan} men often had no one to keep counsel with. Often they had not even friends to trust. Wives were not "friends and partners" in way they are (supposed to be) today. Great things were accomplished in this loneliness.

Why do I think it should be otherwise?
How lonely was my father?
How lonely are all men?

I'm also thinking about MAD MEN, Don Draper. He's as alone as you can be. His wife is not even a confidante ("why did you let that salesman into MY house?"). He has no friends at work. Probably the closest to a "friend" is his boss Coop who is, well, his boss. Then there are his "lady friends" -- the beatnik -- who he has to share with other men who despise him and the Jewish heiress/businesslady -- who could be his equal but is clearly unenthusiastic about him being married and a goy. If he wasn't so handsome he wouldn't be anywhere near her bed.

What do men get from comraderie? I suspect this is a hidden truth. That "jobs" (I'm thinking blue collar at the moment, construction crews) offer a feeling, however antagonistic in demeanor, of belonging that is somehow unavailable other places. Offices, like in Mad Men, are now too "equal opportunity" for anything like the (mean old) boys' clubs to exist. Men have to be on the look-out, more like Michael Scott (in The Office) who is constantly blundering from one foot-in-the-mouth position to another, unable to navigate what is required of a sensitive office man -- homage to the true mission (capitalism/money) while not offending women, racial minorities, and gays. He's clearly not up to the task and we laugh at him for it. Don Draper on the other hand, lives in the Old World before the rules all changed. His kind is slated for extinction -- the "man's man" --except possibly in the military and even there now he has to deal with women, sexual harrassment, etc.

So, how does the loneliness of Draper compare with the loneliness of Scott? Draper is driven. He wants what he wants as the saying goes. He wants money and power and prestige and any woman he wants. Scott-ostensibly wants the same things -- success, promotion--but he wants love, a partner to share his life with, comraderie and friendship in the office, the love and friendship of his colleagues. In a sense, Scott's needs are impossible to fill, the net he casts is too wide. We see the impossibility of it and we laugh, embarrassed for him. Perhaps he lacks something -- tack, intelligence-- we suspect this, but more likely the reason it's funny is that he is us, the Everyman, who can't get what he wants. Ever.
Draper is almost scary in his drive. We know the shows creators "dislike" the culture they are presenting. This is clear when the entire office is cheering for Nixon over Kennedy. "We" (wink-wink) the audience know that Kennedy (hatless, handsome, young, maverick) won that battle. We (wink-wink) know that the kind of capitalism and manipulation that characterizes Sterling Cooper Advertising is not only a dinosaur, but somehow despicable, heartless, deserving it's extinction.

Still, from our "Michael Scott" offices we (like the Pete Campbell character -- boyish forever) watch Draper's every move. How does he get the women? How does he succeed in business without being a kiss-ass pansy (like Pete, like Scott, like us)?