Legal Commentary

In Defense Of The New Establishment Bloggers

By Big Tent Democrat

Regular readers know that I pick many a nit (usually more than a nit) with the New Establishment bloggers (see. e.g., Ezra Klein, Jon Cohn, Kevin Drum, etc.) In a funny post, Matt Yglesias takes a hit:

The more I read Matthew Yglesias* the more he resembles a David Brooks with training wheels. Yglesias is usually inoffensive and has a fine grasp of the obvious. Wherever society needs a Harvard graduate to step up to the lectern and pass on conventional wisdom, he is there.

That's funny. But I don't think it's true. Matt is a pretty varied thinker on most issues. I also think he is wrong about a lot of things, especially his evaluation of politics. But Matt is very smart and most of the time, pretty interesting. More . . .

My biggest beef with the New Establishment bloggers is their willingness to allow the perception that they are the Left Flank of the Democratic Party. This is less true for Yglesiast (and Kevin Drum) than folks like Ezra Klein and Jon Cohn, who often went on television to present "the progressive view" of various issues, particularly health care. That bothered me a lot, given my view that the Democratic Party needs a strong Left Flank.The views of the New Establishment bloggers are generally rational, intelligent and well expressed, but they are certainly do not represent the Left Flank of the Democratic Party. (In case anyone is wondering, neither do mine.)

I know it is difficult sometimes for these bloggers to grasp, but they are forming a New Establishment. I imagine they are wondering why they are not getting Joe Klein money when they are basically replacing Joe Klein. I wonder that myself.

But this creation of a New Establishment Media is a good thing in my opinion. To have a rational, intelligent and articulate Center-Left Establishment that engages the Left Flank is an important step forward.

But these New Establishment bloggers should also recognize that in fact they are not the Left Flank, and try their best to make sure this is understood.

Like pols, for pundits, being able to define yourself as "The Middle" has great value in influencing the public discourse. It's never fun to be sniped at of course. But it has great value. For pols and pundits.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 29, 2010 (boomark / email).