We would be greatful if some of you more knowledgeable
savants on this List would be good enough to explain what the agenda of David Brooks might be...
==========
I don't know what Brooks' *agenda* is or if he even has one beyond writing his ideas and getting published. A review of recent columns however reveals a conventional neoconservative worldview, unsweetened by anything tastily original. There are now a horde of writers/commentators/talking heads producing similar material. Regarding his apparently sudden Oakeshott fixation: who knows and, perhaps more to the point, who cares?
Of late, Brooks' main themes appear to be:
* America's mission (bringing democracy to the globe, etc.)
* Bush's vision (on economics, fighting terrorism and so on)
* Howard Dean's unsuitability for *leadership* (he doesn't appreciate America's special mission, etc.)
* Various and sundry neo-con preoccupations which should be yawningly familiar by now.
Examples follow...
The Weekly Standard
http://www.weeklystandard.com/aboutus/bio_brooks.asp
His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Forbes, the Washington Post, the TLS, Commentary, the Public Interest, and many other magazines. He is editor of the anthology "Backward and Upward: The New Conservative Writing" (Vintage Books).
December 27, 2003 Arguing With Oakeshott By DAVID BROOKS (NYT) Op-Ed
I tell Oakeshott that the Americans and Iraqis are now involved in an Oakeshottian enterprise. They are muddling through, devising shambolic, ad hoc solutions to fit the concrete realities, and that we'll learn through bumbling experience. In the building of free societies, every day feels like a mess, but every year is a step forward.
December 23, 2003 The Great Surrender By DAVID BROOKS (NYT) Op-Ed
Last week, I asked Lieberman if he would pick a fight with Dean on values. I asked him if he had formed any conclusions about Dean's temperament. I asked him if he would run commercials pointing out that if Dean had his way, Saddam would still be in power, filling mass graves. No, no, no.
December 20, 2003, Saturday The Ownership Society By DAVID BROOKS (NYT) Op-Ed 710 words
The Ownership Society idea allows Bush to be centrist and conservative at the same time. It is centrist because it means actively using government to solve problems. In 2000, Bush declared: "I do not believe government is the enemy. But I do not believe government is always the answer. At its best, it can help people find the tools they need to build for themselves. At its best, it gives options, not orders." The Ownership Society platform is designed to update that message for 2004.
December 16, 2003, Tuesday Dreams And Glory By DAVID BROOKS (NYT) Op-Ed 786 words
ABSTRACT - David Brooks Op-Ed column on Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean's speech outlining his foreign policy views; says speech, while respectable and serious, reveals Dean to be more idealistic and naive than Pres Bush; compares his approach to war on terror with Bush's views; holds Bush sees effort as moral and ideological confrontation between forces of democracy and tyranny, while Dean sees war as law and order issue; holds Dean does not share Bush's view that United States has unique role to play in struggle to complete democracy's triumph over tyranny to prevent terrorism.
...
DRM