Ron Rosenbaum

Jay Kennedy Remembered   To the Editor:    read more »

Jay Kennedy Remembered   To the Editor:    read more »

Hypocrite Pataki   To the Editor:    read more »

Hypocrite Pataki   To the Editor:    read more »

Hypocrite Pataki   To the Editor:    read more »

Times They Are a-Booin’

To the Editor:  read more »

Times They Are a-Booin’   To the Editor:    read more »

The Price of Research   To the Editor:    read more »

Standing Up to a Stand-Up Guy   To the Editor:    read more »

Standing Up to a Stand-Up Guy

To the Editor:  read more »

He Gets It   To the Editor:    read more »

Cashing In   To the Editor:    read more »

Ron Rosenbaum mentions the Columbia Journalism dean favorably—and I'm hoping that the Harvard Board of Overseers thinks of Lemann for the Harvard presidency. For a few reasons (not just that he's an old friend whom I met when we were undergraduates in Cambridge). He's brilliant and distinguished, to begin with, and intellectually sophisticated, a scholar of history who has studied pedagogical policy and done an impressive job as a dean. More than that, he has something that the late and unlamented Larry Summers never had, never could have: a humane set of values. Summers epitomized the worst of the meritocracy, the insulated belief of the intelligent that they deserve their place on top because they scored high on the SATs and make more money than other people. It's a complacent materialism that is as nauseating in its way as Babbitt's or General Motors' in days of yore, but with the sheen of blue-state high-culture on it (and, in Summers's case, Jewish tribal self-involvement). Lemann's life and work show that you can be as smart as Summers, actually smarter, and care about ordinary people.

Lemann comes from a privileged background but has a deep sense of noblesse oblige, meaning he believes in something the meritocracy doesn't cultivate: community. When I first met him, he was a kid reporter investigating racist Louisiana laws. These days he's committing Columbia Journalism school to excellence and diversity. I saw this when I taught a class there not long ago. The students had varied backgrounds. Some had that thing called "life experience." A young Muslim woman wore a head covering. Lemann has minorities high on his staff. There's a feeling of tolerance and extension of spirit, great liberal values. The thing I'd fault Lemann for—he was too tactful as a journalist covering the powerful— recommends him for the Harvard presidency. And (again unlike Summers), he knows how to manage people.

Kabul Scribe Writes One for the Record   To the Editor:    read more »

My Favorite Merkin   To the Editor:    read more »

My Favorite Merkin

To the Editor:  read more »

Precedent?   To the Editor:    read more »

Hillary’s History   To the Editor:    read more »

Observer columnist Ron Rosenbaum isn't for everyone, and most writing about blogging is pretty dull. But if you're a fan, his piece this week shouldn't be missed.

"I think the recent total frenzy of Judiana—the Talmudic, blogospheric analysis of the entire spectrum of speculation, rumor, conjecture in the Plame case and its Judy Miller subplot that has consumed so many of us—may mark the moment when the way we process information has changed in some deeper fundamental way that transcends this particular media colonoscopy, transcends media consciousness and suggests some deep internal realignment of the prefrontal lobes."  read more »

He's not really joking...

And relatedly, Ad Age concludes that U.S. workers this year will spend the equivalent of about 551,000 years reading blogs.

To the Editor:    read more »

To the Editor:  read more »

To the Editor:    read more »

To the Editor:    read more »

To the Editor:  read more »

To the Editor:    read more »

We try to figure out why Manhattan insiders are so interested in the race for Surrogate judge.

And Ron Rosenbaum starts the no-Freedom-Tower drumbeat with a good question: would you want a family member to work there? And Matt Scheuerman reports that if it does get built, David Childs will have a lot to do with it.  read more »

And John Stewart has a new Tribeca pad.

I agree with Ron Rosenbaum that the last Seinfeld show was an abomination.  read more »