I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major Generalist

If there is one writer who can wrap popular culture, contemporary politics, and historical perspective into an entertaining and superbly written piece, that writer is Mark Steyn. I think he outdoes himself in this NRO post where he discusses the growing feeling that Barack Obama is perhaps quite detached from much of his surroundings. Here's a sample:

No doubt my observations about Obama’s remoteness from the rhythms of American life will be seen by his dwindling band of beleaguered cheerleaders as just another racist, right-wing attempt to whip up the backwoods knuckle-dragging swamp-dwellers of America by playing on their fears of “the other” — the sophisticated, worldly cosmopolitan for whom France is more than a reliable punchline. But in fact my complaint is exactly the opposite: Obama’s postmodern detachment is feeble and parochial. It’s true that he hadn’t seen much of America until he ran for president, but he hadn’t seen much of anywhere else, either. Like most multiculturalists, he’s passed his entire adulthood in a very narrow unicultural environment where your ideological worldview doesn’t depend on anything so tedious as actually viewing the world.

And here's the visual that is a perfect capture of Stein's point, one driven home oh so well in his title.



May Gilbert and Sullivan live forever.