Friday, March 21, 2008

Outside the Bubble   [John Derbyshire]

Byron makes a good point, one we should all keep in mind. Knee-deep as we have all been, for over a year now, in political chat, we forget how very little most Americans care about politics. A week or so ago a very intelligent, professional acquaintance said to me: "Hey, this Obama guy is something new, isn't he? It would be so cool to have a black President!" It was obvious, from the remark and subsequent conversation, that Sen. Obama had just then, for the first time, impinged on my friend's consciousness, in mid-March of 2008.

I am sure it won't be at all difficult to turn up people in mid-October saying: "Hey, this Obama guy is something new …"

Robert Conquest argues in one of his books that this widespread indifference to politics is one of the great strengths of Anglo-Saxon civilization.

03/21 11:26 AMShare