NeoGoodbye

by Reihan

I've been meaning to write a kind of lengthy meditation on the future of neoconservatism, taking off from Mark Lilla's entertaining and mostly unfavorable review of Jacob Heilbrunn's They Knew They Were Right. But to do that I first need to go through some of Lilla's earlier writing on the reactionary mode and the neoconservative reinvention of Leo Strauss. The thing is, I have to go see a movie in about thirty minutes. This is very troubling to me. I will, I pledge, write the post, which will be a little anticlimactic, at The American Scene. Briefly, I'd like to associate myself Peter Berkowitz's excellent short essay on "The Neocons and Iraq."

So I guess this is goodbye. I'd like to thank Andrew for allowing me to befoul his beautiful home on the web. Because I was a fan of Andrew's long before we ever met, I still feel very humbled and honored to work with him. I remember this blog when it was in its infancy, and it makes me very happy indeed to think that Andrew is introducing people, particularly young people, to his invariably brilliant, idiosyncratic notions and his slightly off-kilter sense of humor. One hates to gush, but Andrew's extraordinary success with this blog fills me with a lot of joy. It's a bit like Lost. The fact that millions of Americans watch Lost suggests to me that there are many millions of Americans who are incredibly cool and brainy. Pace Michelle Obama, this fills my heart with pride. You catch my drift here. Oh heck, I'll say it: I think you readers are pretty cool, particularly those of you who've advocated my summary execution on grounds of committing user-generated video crimes. 

You should know that we have many, many exciting plans here at The Atlantic, some of which you'll see as soon as the middle of the next week. More on that to come.

Also, a brief plug: if you've enjoyed Jim Manzi and Peter Suderman, you'll find them and many others at The American Scene. I've been subtly trying to woo hilzoy, but I fear that's a lost cause. One of these days I'm hoping to get Pope Benedict XVI as a guest-blogger. And also Oakland-based rapper Too $hort. This would give us the breadth we badly need.

Take care. Have a lovely weekend! I have a terrible stomachache. Too many pears, possibly. Let's hope it's not fatal.