December 4th Show

In this show I made extended comments on Barak Obama's opportunities to improve the intellectual honesty of the American political conversation as well as what I consider to be a central factor in the frustrating anti-intellectualism of American politics; namely the conflation (intentional and otherwise) of the notion of "fact" and "truth."

I also had time to comment on a George Will column in this morning's newspaper. Will is, in my view, one of the best conservative intellectuals in the mass media and I very often benefit intellectually from his work. Just last week I read his column on Stanley Fish's new book "Save the world on your own time," which I found very thought provoking. I quickly obtained a copy of Fish's book and am presently reading it. The book is about the job of college professors and academic freedom. When I read Will's column on this my initial reaction was that Will was missing Fish's point. Now that I am hip deep in Fish's point, I'm not sure exactly what it is. When I'm done, however, I hope to write about my interpretation of Fish's thesis with Will's critique in mind.

Both extended commentaries in this show were the subjects of blog posts. Click HERE for the blog on Obama's press conference and HERE for the "Just the Facts" essay.