October 02, 2008
The New Model Party
Barack Obama's new party. like Cromwell's army, won't allow him to govern conservatively.
April 19, 2008
April 17, 2008
Goodbyes
This week I returned from a memorial service for my first collaborator in arts policy research, and my second PhD advisee, to find that my most recent coauthor, on biofuels and global warming, had taken his life. It's been a tough week, as both were friends, optimal colleagues, much too young, and respectively central to the two main areas of...
March 07, 2008
It's 3 a.m.--do you know where your campaign adviser is?
Susan Rice, the Bulworth of campaign advisers.
February 16, 2008
May 18, 2007
Literary history extended
A common parable about leadership goes as follows: Halfway through the construction of the cathedral, the architect died. The bishop, not knowing what to do, went out to walk through the stoneyard, and found a man hammering on a chisel. "Bless you, my son. What are you making?" "About twelve centimes a day, your excellency." The bishop moved on, and...
April 13, 2007
Corzine and the seat belt
After a respectful moment of sympathy for Gov. Corzine's pain, and his family's: ... and another to wish him a full recovery: ... what the hell is the matter with him? How could the chief executive of a state routinely put the chief executive of his state, elected by and responsible to the voters to discharge his duties for a...
January 03, 2007
Argillaceous pedal extremities
John Shalikashvili seems unashamed to report that his version of leadership is to follow his troops wherever they want to go, pandering to bigotry and ignorance along the way. Back in 1993, he didn't want gays in the military because he thought the other soldiers wouldn't like them, but now that polling indicates it's not a problem, he's on...
