"Dreams and Glory" - David Brooks on Dean

[ProfessorPlum]

Even though Brooks probably meant this article to be anti-Dean, he actually makes some great arguments for Dean. I expected to be angry at the author - instead I think the rational part of Brooks' brain - what little there is left - is screaming to be let out, to tell the world what a horror Bush is.

<snip>

Instead, (Dean) emphasized that the U.S. should strive to strengthen global institutions. He argued that the war on terror would be won when international alliances worked together to choke off funds for terrorists and enforce a global arms control regime to keep nuclear, chemical and biological materials away from terror groups.

Dean is not a modern-day Woodrow Wilson. He is not a mushy idealist who dreams of a world government. Instead, he spoke of international institutions as if they were big versions of the National Governors Association, as places where pragmatic leaders can go to leverage their own resources and solve problems.

The world Dean described is largely devoid of grand conflicts or moral, cultural and ideological divides. It is a world without passionate nationalism, a world in which Europe and the United States are not riven by any serious cultural differences, in which sensible people from around the globe would find common solutions, if only Bush weren't so unilateral.

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In the world Dean describes, people, other than a few bizarre terrorists, would be working together if not for Bush. In the Dean worldview, all problems are matters of technique and negotiation.

</snip>

He goes on to say that Bush is more "practical" because he clearly doesn't believe we could all live together and get along - as is evidenced from his policies.

The candidate Brooks is describing here sounds great to me!

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/opinion/16BROO.html

[Melodybe]

1. I thought that he was pretty condescending.

[ProfessorPlum]

2. Yes, of course

Brooks is a total right-wing hack. The article was meant to pump up Chimpy and dump on Dean.

But when you look at the "bad" things Dean is supposedly for - like working with our allies - it didn't sound that bad to me, which I thought was interesting.