Another superb grown-up piece from John F. Burns today in the New York Times. Smart, isn’t it, to interview Iraqis not in the midst of their own police state, but just over the border in Jordan, where they have some modicum of freedom. As often, it’s hard to summarize Burns’ peerless reporting. But if this piece doesn’t remind you of Kipling, I’d be surprised. The critical thing now, to my mind, is less the diplomatic pirouettes than the execution of the coming war. The question is not whether we win, but how we win. Without jeopardizing victory, we have to be extremely careful to avoid excessive civilian casualties and to keep the battle as short as possible. I have no idea how this can be done. But I do think that the war will be politically successful if it can bring these two objectives into play. (P.S. Tom Friedman has an excellent take today as well.)
A WASTE OF SPACE: Reading Maureen Dowd’s characteristically inane column today, I asked myself once again why, at this moment of gravity and importance, a major American columnist has simply nothing to say, except occasional lame pop-cultural associations and a superficial account of the views of others. I’m not the only one. Here’s the Washingtonian’s verdict on the Dowd decline:
Complaints about Dowd have moved beyond her flashy reporting style and water-beetle habit of skimming the surface. Her crimes against readers now fall into three main categories – formulaic nuttiness, posturing, and condescension.
Even worse, the Dowd schtick seems to me to be a bad thing for women in journalism. It implies that women op-ed writers, opinion journalists, and pundits are at their best parlaying gossip, small-talk and chit-chat. So odd that Dowd, who views herself as a feminist pioneer, unwittingly reinforces certain stereotypes. At least McGrory tells us what she thinks, rather than what she buys.
The Dish 