On being a liberal

I think Andrew should get sick more often; he's been on fire since he got back. But his response to Forbes's haphazard 25 Most Influential Liberals list deserves particular mention. A kind reading of the list says that Forbes thinks anyone who might disagree with Bush is a liberal. A more uncharitable one says that Forbes picked anyone who wasn't likely to vote for Sarah Palin. Anyway, after laying out why he's a conservative, Sullivan says something which (to me) is truly transcendent:

...self-confident political groupings seek converts - look at Obama. Failed and failing political groupings seek to punish and list heretics.

I think this is a big part of why I wasn't so obsessed with making sure Joe Lieberman got done, or with the "Clintonites" in Obama's cabinet. I wouldn't have cried for Lieberman or for the Clintonites, but it all just seemed beside the point. The GOP has the party they' ve wanted since the days of Nixon, one which bisects the country and is based on the concept of the "other"--the gay, the black, the latino, the urban, and those from the "fake" parts of Virgina. Small town elitism, as they say. The Forbes list really reflects that.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/01/on-being-a-liberal/6626/