Tom Friedman has finally seen the light on George Bush. I'll happily welcome any additional anti-Bush votes into the camp, particularly one with a wide audience (see: Stern, Howard) but have to ask what took him so friggin long?
This will probably get me in trouble, but I've never been much of a Friedman fan. I first became aware of him in the run up to the first Gulf War through his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem. But it's so self-absorbed, episodic, and disorganized as to be virtually unreadable. It conveys almost nothing of the Arab mind, little of their culture, and pales in comparison to the sublime (but oddly lesser known) The Arabs: Journeys Beyond the Mirage by David Lamb.
A couple times a week Friedman kicks out a column crammed with almost random details, trite phrases, and strained metaphors. Logic, critical reasoning, and over-arching thought are nowhere to be found. Even those who try to praise Friedman can't get around his deficiencies, e.g. the key grafs from this David Plotz piece in Slate a couple years ago:
He's not much of a stylist. He endlessly repeats favorite themes: How many "open letters from blah to blah" can one columnist write? No philosophical foundation girds his work.The best description of Friedman's work might be what someone once said of Bob Woodward's, "It's pointillism without the point." I suspect this is why it's taken so long for Friedman to grasp the obvious. Despite his extensive knowledge of the Middle East and unmatched contacts in the region (and, reportedly, in the administration) he's always been too focused on the small details to ask himself simple questions like "what kind of men are leading us?" and "where are we going?"...
But this does not mean his writing lacks power. Friedman's skill is that he speaks in the voice of Madison Avenue. He's effective not because he sounds like a historian, but because he sounds like an advertisement. Friedman has no ideas that can't be expressed in a catchphrase. His work is salted with slogans and phrases in capital letters. They are gimmicky, too simple, and extremely useful.
Nonetheless, I'm glad to hear you've come around Tom. Welcome aboard! Now please do two things for me:
- Since you like to endlessly repeat favorite themes, hammer away at the "Bush must go" line in your column between now and November.
- If possible, register in your home state of Minnesota. It's a swing state and your vote is more valuable there.
UPDATE: Okay, I see that Kevin Drum has tackled the same subject this morning, and admits that in 2002 he was fooled by the administration in the same way that Friedman claims. I must just be a lot more cynical than Kevin, but under the circumstances I'll be more gracious about Friedman's epiphany. However, the comments about his writing style stand as is.
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